The Halo of the Hero
by Xerxez
Summary: Ranma becomes a Spartan II, he is trained on Reach. After Reach is destroyed he is called Master Cheif, or Ranma117 to his few friends. What will happen when he returns to Earth. On Hiatus
1. The Forerunner

Disclaimer: All series belong to respective owners.

**The Halo of the Hero**

Chapter 1 The Forerunner

In the beginning, silence, darkness. Then something happened, there is light, light from a single young sun, the first of many yet to come. The sun was the first thing in the entire universe, the first of creation.

Only moments after the first sun was born, something else was born on a small, bleak and dark planet orbiting the sun, the Forerunner.

The Forerunner, after only a few eons began to explore the galaxy, in hope of finding life somewhere else, so they could share their knowledge and culture. They explored a galaxy, then another one, then another one, and so it continued.

After many thousand years and after exploring the entire universe, they found to their sorrow they were all alone. By this time the entire Forerunner race was involved in the searching for another life form.

 Putting all their hope in their scientists who where working on theories about different dimensions, in hopes of getting new places to continue their search. After finding proof of the existent of other dimensions, they began to build the Gateways, gigantic constructs which enabled the Forerunner to travel between them. They worked as doors in the walls which separated the different realities.

 By now the Forerunners had accumulated a huge amount of knowledge on all forms of science, there wasn't any limit, with what they could to with their technology. They learned to control the ethereal and elemental energies around them, and also learned to use their own energies, ki, chi and psi, the energies of the body, spirit and mind(1). Because of this, they had godlike powers, and thanks to geneticall engineering they where basically immortal.

Travelling and searching the entire multiverse, they soon found that not only where their dimension the only one with any form of life, but also the only one which consisted of materia, all the others where just a black void.

The Forerunner went into despair, what where the meaning of their existence, if not to find and exchange knowledge with other species. Where their creation just an isolated freak event? What should they do now, they had dedicated their lives to find life, but they found nothing, not even bacteria.

Then they knew, they shouldn't find life, they should create it. Taking small samples of their own DNA, they broke it down to a basic enzyme and then planted it on different worlds. Then they began to monitor the evolution of the different life forms.

With their technology the where able to create entire galaxies in the dimensions lacking such. Planting the seeds of the future in most of the dimensions.

The observed and waited, never interfering with the life of their children. Fore millions of years they kept an eye on their children, but soon they began to take onboard small samples on their ships to scan and examine them more closely.

One of those samples, a basic parasite, came in contact with a blood sample of the Forerunner. It quickly mutated and altered to an extremely dangerous virus. It infected the entire crew of the ship and then slowly but surely began to infest many different worlds which was populated with other of the Forunners children. The Forerunners, after trying to stop the Flood, as it now was know as, in a great war, failed, as a last solution they began to build the Halos, weapons of mass destruction. They also began to work on a genetically enhanced forerunner that was immune against the Flood virus, the Reclaimers.

The plan was to build the Halos and then leave this dimension trough one of the Gateways, there they would be safe against the Halos weapons. Then they should let the Reclaimers activate the 10 Halos spread across the universe.

Every Halo had a small group of AIs called Guilty Sparks, a big number of robots responsible for building the Halo called Sentinels, and one Forerunner, that would be the Reclaimer once injected whit the Reclaimer serum.

When the Reclaimer serum was finished one vial of the serum was sent to each Halo. Nine of the ten transports made it. The ship caring the vial to installation 04 never made it because a group of flood attacked 04 before the ship could arrive there. The Flood killed the chosen Reclaimer and fired the Halo. The other nine installations followed suit and fired of their Halos. Because of the attack on 04 and its early firing, the colony ships with the Forerunners never made it through the Gateways. All Reclaimers died because they didn't get into the protection chambers due to the early firing. On 04 the Flood had managed to get into the safety of the protection chambers, where the Guilty Sparks where able to seal them in. One of the Guilty Sparks, 343 Guilty Spark to be exact, went renegade after the death of the Reclaimer and destroyed the other Guilty Sparks.

The ship carrying the fourth vial of the Reclaimer serum, due to the loss of the crew(2), crashed on a remote planet on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy.

All life was destroyed, or was it?

On a very few planets, deep within their crusts, simple, small and basic bacteria managed to survive the blast.

The small flame of life wasn't yet extinguished, and given time would grow into a roaring fire.

In the other dimensions, the Foreruners children newer knew the Forerunner, the Firstborn, the Builders, the Creators of life, even existed, and didn't know or care of their tragic ending.    

Billions of years later the humans began to walk in the Forerunners footsteps, as they began to reach for the stars. The small imperium of mankind was born.

**Authors Notes **

(1)Ki is the energy that the body creates. All living things have ki. If someone uses all his/her ki then they die, because a body needs ki to survive. Using ki makes a person tired and they only have a limited supply of it. It is the most basic form of energy manipulation. Often used by skilled fighters and healers.

Chi is the energy that the soul creates, basically it is the soul and if someone uses all of his/her chi they die because the soul has left the body. Using chi doesn't tire the body but chi has a very limited supply. It is harder to learn to use chi than ki. Most living things have chi. Used mostly by advanced fighters, and healers.   

Psi is the energy of the mind and is unlike the other sources of energy unlimited. Using psi makes the body tired. If someone uses too much psi then they die of exhaustion. Only very few species on the entire universe has psi, and even fewer can use it. Used mostly by telepaths, psychics and psionics.

Ethereal, is the energy that magic consists of. More common then ki, chi and psi. It is unlimited, but just like psi, it tires the body. Most things have a connection to the ethereal streams. Used by mages, wizard, and witches.

Elemental, is like magic energy form that doesn't come from the users body. It is not common as magic or ki, but more common than chi and psi. It is unlimited, but just like psi and ethereal, it tires the body .It is the life-force of the universe, basically the universes own ki. Used mostly by extremely advanced fighter/mages.

These fives are the five basic energies that exist in the universe. There are more, but they consist of only bits and pieces of one of the five energies. Some species may have melted together small parts of 2 or more energies and are then usually more powerful than others, but they are extremely rare. Most species have at least a few that's able to use one of the energies but no one have even been near to use one energy at 100% percent like the Forerunner could. The knowledge to do so disappeared with the Forunner.

(2). The reason why the crew dies and the ship still is intact is because of the weapon Halo uses. It fires some kind of radioactive pulse that kills all organic material but doesn't do any harm to anything else. The lead in some of the planets crusts dampens the effect and might make it possible fore bacteria to survive. That and the fact that i am the author of this story.

-Well that went well, expect at least a week between every chapter. Ranma will appear I the 4 or 5 chapter.

The Administration will accept all comments and constructive criticism.

All flames will be given to the Covenant as target practise.

A guy walks up to a bulletin board, looks at different notices.

Looks more precisely at one in particular. Takes out a pen and paper and writes something down.

The guy walks away.

Zoom in one the notice the guy was looking at.

Wanted: Pre-readers.

Contact: Xerxez

Salary: Forget about it pal.

E-mail: Author-Xerxezhotmail.com


	2. The Relics

Disclaimer: All series belong to respective owners.

**The Halo of the Hero**

Chapter 2 The Relics

**Location: High orbit over the planet Moln.**

**Date: ****9 March 2531******

A small spacecraft, between 100-150 meters slowly drifted trough space. The black-grey hull of the craft made it almost impossible to see in the darkness of space. The only reason it is seen is because of the small dots of lights escaping the ships massive engines. It slowly leaves the shadow of the planet and in the rays of the sun that began to peak out from behind the planet, you can read the words UNSC GETTYSBURG painted with white colour on the bow of the ship.

The camera moves slowly towards the main view window, showing a bridge without any crew. Everything is dark, only the weak rays of the systems sun turning the bridge from pitch black to an eerie twilight. All screens are black, only reflecting the weak light.

Beep

One of the monitors on the bridge came to life and began to show information on the current status.

Leaving Slipspace

Complete

/Reach programmed coordinates1269.9433.0934.6547.X

ScanningCoordinates reached

Complete

Initiate secondary objectives

1. Bring main power back online

Complete

2.Bring lights online

The lights on the bridge began to flicker and then went on.

Complete

3.Bring life support online

A small hiss was heard as air began to fill the room.

Complete

4.Bring main computer online

All displays on the bridge began to flicker and then display various kind of information.

Complete

5.Bring ships main systems online

Complete

6.Initiate self-diagnostics program

All systems showing green and working at 100% efficiency

Awaken crew out of their cryo-sleep.

Starting

**Cryo-chamber**.

The room wasn't very big maybe 10x10 meters, but still was full of over 30 cryo-tubes. The entire room was filled, and there was only a small space between the three rows of tubes.

Thaw-up initiated

The air began to hiss as the pressure-locks opened and small amounts of condensed water escaped. The floor of the room was soon filled whit a thick fog, giving the entire room, with their coffin like tubes, a sense of a tomb.

One after another the lids of the tubes began to open.

Dr. Catherine Halsey opened her eyes. She fell to the floor and hit it with a loud Thud, she coughed as she tried to regain her breath. She was sitting on the floor, her right hand on the floor supporting her and the left over her throat, trying to swallow the slime in her airways so she would be able to breathe. She tried, and failed miserably, throwing up the green looking slime on the floor.

Please swallow the cryo-fluids, they contain important nutrition's that would be needed after a long cryo-sleep.A cold robotic voice said over the rooms speakers.

"Here, let me help you up" said a deep voice in a slightly Spanish accent.

She locked up and saw a tanned man about 30-35 with his hair cut short in military fashion, holding his hand towards her. She took his hand and without any effort pulled her back on her feet.

"Thanks"cough, cough, she said weakly.

"No problems, I know that people always feel like hell after a cryo-sleep" said the man.

"It's not the sleep that bothers me, it's the goddamned wakeup, with the cryo-fluids in my throat." She said with a slightly annoyed voice, directing a cold glare at the cryo-tube.

"Hehe…I know what you mean, first you can't breathe, and when you try to swallow it you throw up because it tastes like hell" he said with a little laugh.

She locked around and saw that most of the crew had begun to wake up.

"By the way my name is Mendez" said the man with a grin.

"Catherine Halsey" she replied.

All military personnel shall emideitly report in hangar bay 2The robotic vice said.

"Well that's me, see you around" he said and walked away.

Halsey-later, she said and began to walk towards the shower to clean herself from the cryo-fluids.

As she walked in the shower, she stripped herself from the military tank-top and underwear.

"Brrrr, cold". She said to herself.

She then walked to her locker and pulled out a standard black jumpsuit, dressed and then left for the bridge.

**Bridge**

 "So, can you locate the unknown transmission?" A man in his later fifties said. Locking over the shoulder of a man to see the monitor.

"I can give you an estimated position, within a 60 km radius, sir" the young ensign replied.

"I want it pinpointed to the meter exact, do you get that" the old man replied as he heard what the ensign had said.

"Sir, these scanners are outdated and there are some heavy Ion-storms in the area that interfere with the sensors. I can probably decrease the area to 20 km, but that would take a couple of hours. I need top calibrate the scanners before I can begin thou" the man said as he saw the Captains irritated look.

"Can't we do better than that?" the captain asked.

"Once we have entered the planets atmosphere, and the storm has cleared I can give better coordinates. But I still think we should calibrate the sensors to decrease the area to search"

"How long exact does this take?"

"5-6 hours to calibrate the sensors, and about 48 hours before those storms clear."

"Well then, you should probably begin those calibrations."

"Yes Sir, he replied before the captain walked away."

Dr Catherine Halsey slowly walked through the ship, shortly stopping at her quarters to pick up some real clothes. Jumpsuits where fine, but she still preferred to have real clothes on instead of the skin-tight fabrics of the suits. They weren't, in her opinion, very comfortable, and didn't do much to protect her modesty, they were so goddamned tight that they didn't leave anything to imagination... She walked up to the door to the bridge, and thought about the reason she was on a 70-year old ship in the middle of nowhere.

**flashback**

Catherine Halsey stood before a desk, a fat, balding man sitting on a chair on the other side of it.

"Good that you are here, Dr Halsey." The fat man said in a friendly voice.

"What do you want, Izack?" she said in a confused voice.

"Well I wanted to see my favourite student again, it has been three years, Catherine." He said with a small smile on his face.

"Well it's good to see you to, Izack. But I hardly believe that you would call my all the way from Earth out here to Reach just so you could say hello."

"Well, your right as always, it's not the only reason I called you here."

"Well what is it then?"

Izack sighed and then walked over to a small cabinet, and pulled out a brown folder with the words CLASSIFIED written over it with red colour. He then sat back in his chair and placed the folder over his desk.

"Would you please take a seat, Catherine."

She walked over to the chair and sat down, but didn't say a word. Izack wasn't serious very often, but when he was you should listen carefully, because it always was important.

"Two months ago, the Hubble sensor array picked a small signal from a planet in the frontier. First we thought that it was a sunburst from the systems sun, but the when a identical signal came about 5min 34sec later we knew that wasn't the case."

"So? It's probably a UNSC-ship."

"No, the UNSC doesn't have any ships even near those coordinates, so it had to come from another source." He sighed and locked directly at Catherine's eyes.

"Pirates? Or a civilian vessel?"

He sighed again, and shocks his head in negative.

"No, because Hubble determined that the signals couldn't possible come from any human made equipment, they were to clear for that."

"What do you mean?"

"At this distance any human signal would have broken up and become mostly static by the time it reached Hubble. These signals where both identical and both clear, no static, no interferences in the signals, not even a slight buzz in the background."

"Are you saying that they have a non-human origin? That they are of… that they come from an alien device." She said shocked, and locking for Izack to say it out loud to confirm it. Izack had been a good friend of her father, and a good friend and mentor for her, so she trusted him.

"Probably, UNSC High Command thinks so at least." He sighed yet again.

"But why are you telling me this?" She asked shocked at his confirmation.

"UNSC wants to send a science team to investigate those signals."

"And?"

"They asked me to put together the science team, and I want you to be the one in charge. He explained and waited for a reaction."

"But… why me?"

"Your one of the smartest, you have a Dr Grade in math, biology, physics, and space travel, that makes you perfect for this mission, and most importantly, I trust you. I know you won't do anything funny, unlike the goons in the Office of Navy Intelligence. I would do it myself if I was 30 years younger, but I am not. So, do you want to accept?"

In charge of an entire science mission AND the chance to study Xeno-tech. There is only one answer to that question.

"Count me in."

Izack just handed her the folder.

**End flashback**

What they didn't tell me was that the ship they would use was an old rebuilt cargo-ship, it was basically falling apart. And the fact that UNSC would send a ten man team of marines with her. They were 30 on the ship, 10 crew members, the marines and her ten man science team. Well at least not all marines were complete assholes as she thought back to Mendez as he helped her in the cryo-bay.

Well, let's get to work she thought to herself as she entered the bridge.

-------------------------------------

"Well, when can we land on the planet?" she asked the captain.

"In about 48 hours" he replied at the same time locking on a screen displaying the current engine status.

 "Why not earlier?"

"Because we have a bad ion-storm in the area we have traced the signals to."

"Well then, would you please call me if it is anything of importance."

"Don't worry, I will."

------------------------------------

"Sir, I have traced the signals to a mountain chain, the signal is somewhere in the middle of it. Can't get a clear signal before the storm dies down."

"Well, good work ensign. Continue to scan the area for more information."   

------------------------------------------------

"Entering atmosphere in five, four, three, two, one."

Catherine saw the flames in the windows as the ship entered the planets atmosphere. She knew that that always happened with the older crafts as the always entered the atmosphere a little to fast. She also knew that the ships heat-sheilds could handle the extreme temperatures. She really whished they could have gotten a newer ship so they would have a normal landing, instead of this bumpy ride through hell. If she didn't sit in the small seat whit security belts she would have been flying around everywhere because of the turbulence. She felt a little sick, had to hold her hand over her mouth to not throw up. She panted a little, fighting down the nausea that threatened her to throw up. Halsey began to look around the small compartment where all non-crew members sat in their respective seats, trying everything not to throw up. She saw Sergeant Mendez sitting in his chair opposite her. He had his eyes closed.

So I am not the only one that's scared, and a marine to, well that's a relief, she thought to herself.

Then she heard it, a loud brumming noise, and looked closer at Mendez. Then she understood, he wasn't closing his eyes in fear, he was SLEEPING and snoring.

How the hell could he sleep in these conditions was beyond her.

"Blowing braking thrusters in 5…."

Catherine then saw the small flames on the windows turn into a blazing inferno. Then the ship went from shaky to who-the-hell-has-built-a-over-dimensional-mixer. She still was able to fight down the nausea, but she wouldn't be able to do it much longer.

"Altitude 180 00 meters…  flaps at 30%...  deactivating artificial gravity...

Engaging standard atmosphere drives. Engines at 70%"

Catherine didn't know how much more she could take before passing out. Then she felt the ship began to plan out and then the shacking stopped. The flames outside the window had disappeared, and she saw a beautiful yellow sky. 

"Ensign, begin to track down those signals."

"Sir, already begun, tracking should be complete about… now."

**Mission****: Archaeological excavation.**

**Location: Mountain range, planet Moln.**

**Date: ****12 March 2531******

Catherine Halsey looked out over the valley, the transmissions should be coming from somewhere inside the valley, and she was hell-bent on finding what caused them.

"Dr Halsey!"

"Yes?"

"We were able to pinpoint the signals to a 50x50 small area down the canyon. Sensors pick up high amounts of metal about 25 metres below the earth. Probably what we are looking after."

"Can you tell me more, what kind of metal it is? Size? Shape?"

"The metal is unknown to us, as for the size and form we haven't deployed the earth sonar yet. One thing we can tell you thou is that whatever it is the metal is concentrated to one point, and the sensors haven't found any other metal that match this one on this planet."

"So, it isn't a natural phenomena?"

"No, as I said the concentration of metal is too high to be natural, it is built by someone. Who or why I don't know."

"Well then, let's go find out."

**Date: 13 March**

"So, could you tell me what you found, Catherine?" He asked curiously.

"Well, it's defiantly not of human origin. Sonar shows that it is one piece of metal, with small parts spread in a straight line from the thing. It's probably a spacecraft that crashed here, the small parts are probably debris from the crash. Well that's my theory at least."

"Aliens? Could mean trouble, ill see to it to put out guards."

"That won't be necessary, it is 25 metres below the surface. And if my calculations are right, then it would have been there for at least a billion years, probably longer. I hardly think there is something down there besides old bones."

"Ok, but I will still put out those guards."

"Why?"

"Simple, I don't want them to get lazy. The corp. still pays us, so we have to do something."

"Well…I think of something they could do."

"Yes, continue."

"We would need men dig out the craft."

Mendez looked at Catherine. And groaned. Loud. Really loud. Really, really loud.

"Aw hell." He said as he walked away to tell the marines the bad news. Muttering darkly to himself.

"Come on sarge, we are UNSC Marines, not moles."

"Quit you're bitching, private. Marines do what they are told, and I tell you to dig."

"Join the marines they say, travel and see the galaxy they say, have an exiting life they say. And here I am, digging a freaking hole in the ground, on a deserted planet on the ass end of the universe. And I have a hole in my shirt."

"Put a sock in it will you, Sanchez."

Sanchez stopped his tirade of the injustice in the universe, and continued to dig, but still muttering quiet curses in Portuguese.

--------------------------------------------

**Date: 27 March**

"Dr Halsey! Dr Halsey! We found something."

Catherine began to run towards the digging site, stopping at the shaft that went 20 meters below the ground. She looked down a saw a group consisting of 4 marines and 3 of the scientists. They were all standing in a circle around something.

"When we hit 23 meters we found small parts of… well something, and it is 100% alien origin. We thought that it would be best if we called you."

Catherine just nodded, and then began to walk down the stairs that the marines had built along one of the walls. About halfway she began to run down the stairs.

Alien, it really is alien. The firs sign of life from another planet. She would defiantly have a place in the history once the people back home found out.

Once at the bottom, she walked over to the small group, and she recognised Sergeant Mendez among one of them. He stepped aside, so Catherine could see what they were looking at. What she saw would to anyone besides this small group have been totally uninteresting, have had no value whatsoever. They would have just identified it as a small piece of bent and burned scrap-metal, and they would have been right. It was a small piece of bent and burned scrap-metal, but what made it so important was that it was ALIEN.

The question "are we alone in the universe", a question that humanity has pondered for over 700 years, had found an answer on a small backwater planet.

Everybody looked at each other, nodded and then, with small brushes and garden shovels, equipment that after almost 600 years was still used, began to carefully dig out a surrounding area.

 If Catherine wouldn't been so preoccupied with analysing the metal, she would have laughed at the sight before her. All the scientist and marines had begun to dig in the surrounding area, looking like small children in a sandbox trying to find the buried treasure.

Even Sanchez was digging, no complain leaving his lips. This was a holy moment for mankind, it was a start of a new era and they where right in the middle of it. This was something that would forever change the face of history, they knew it and talking would have destroyed that moment.

As the day proceeded, they found more and more of the metal pieces, all burned and bent.

She looked up from her block with her notices and then looked around. As she looked at one of the marines trying to lift a big piece of metal all by himself, she heard a scream behind her. Everybody stopped and turned towards the scream. Where one of the marines had been there was only a hole in the ground. It wasn't big, one meter in diameter, but it was from the hole they heard a cursing Sanchez screaming.

"Why the hell does this shit always happen to me? GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"How long is the fall, Sanchez?" a tired looking Mendez asked. If Sanchez was cursing that only meant that he was okay.

"Over 5 meters, now get me the hell out of here."

Mendez then began to climb down a ladder that had been lying around the digging site.

"Guys, I think I just found what we are looking for."

"What?" Catherine asked confused

"I am in some kind of a corridor."

That was all Mendez had to say before Catherine began to climb down. After a while everybody was down in the darkness. All marines caring their standard assault-rifle with flashlights on. The scientists didn't have any weapon just their flashlights.

"Spread out, five teams". Mendez barked out.

They began to move slowly inside. Catherine was stunned, the inside of this craft was just amazing. The corridors where oval with a flat floor. She didn't see any kind joint or seam in the structure of the ship, making it look like it was made out of one piece. After about 15 minutes they had searched the entire ships. One of the corridors was totally crushed, and it was impossible to proceed any further. Another was impassable, due to the fact that it was molten together because of some extreme heat along while ago, now it was just slag.

**Date 29 March.**

They had begun to scan the wreckage, but didn't find anything accept some small rooms and what looked like a cargo bay, but it was empty except a small, grey shrine in the middle of the room. They couldn't move it because it was built into the floor, so they tried to open it. The lid didn't budge a millimetre, so they decided to weld it open. It took longer than they had predicted, the material was extremely heat-resistence. When the where able too probably scan the hull of the ship they found out that that the bow of the ship was totally crushed together, probably because of the impact, and that the stern was just reduced to molten scrap metal**(1)**.

So the bridge and engine room was completely gone and that left about a third of the ship, the middle, intact. The problem was that except the shrine, the middle of the ship was empty.

"The case will be open any second now", the marine operating the heavy laser drill said over the loud noise of the drill.

When they first tried to open the case nothing worked, so they resorted to take on of the Gettysburg laser drills to do the job. Those drills where constructed to cut through even a battleships armour whit ease, so they should cut through the shrines metal in no time. They where wrong, it took over 18 hours to open the chest.

"We are through, turning of the drills power."

When they stepped towards the case, the saw as it went from white, due to the heat, to black in just a few seconds.

"This things heat resistance is unbelievable, it cooled down in just a few seconds."

"Well, let's open it." Catherine said in an exited voice.

Two marines walked up to the shrine and were just barely able to push it open.

The lid of the shrine hit the deck whit a loud Ka-Kling that echoed all over the empty cargo bay. When Catherine slowly walked up to the shrine, she hoped that it would contain something, anything. She wasn't disappointed, in the shrine lay three items. The first was what appeared to be a small chain made of some unknown metal looking like silver, on the chain there was a ring made of gold like metal, the ring had small engravings in some unknown language that appeared to glow with a blue light. Then there was a small cube about 5 centimetres that was filled whit what appeared blue lightning, making the entire shrine glow with a blue light. And the last object was a crystal vial filled with a green liquid. She knew then and there, she hit the jackpot.

**Date: 3 April**

"Leaving atmosphere. Artificial gravity engaged."

Catherine Halsey sat yet again in the seats, as the Gettysburg left the planet. I wasn't even near as bumpy as the entering, but she still wished they would have gotten a new craft. She looked out the window as the planet became smaller and smaller.

After taking the three relics they found on the ship onboard, they had looked everywhere, taking photos and notes. Searching every inch of the derelict spacecraft, they found nothing new. They would once home, suggest a bigger operation and ship to salvage the entire craft. Who knew what secrets were still buried under the surface of that planet. The mission was a full success, they had found proof an advanced civilisation that clearly outdated their own whit millions of years. And she had become a good friend whit Sergeant Mendez, he was the living evidence that all marines wasn't stupid, brainless, grunts, he had surprised her when she found out he had a dr grade in math. She began to fall to sleep as she wondered what the future would bring.

**Authors Notes**

(1)The engines overheated and exploded at the impact.

Well, this chapter was a little long. I suspect that the next chapter will only be a little more then half of this.

Ranma will turn up in the fourth chapter. I will probably change his personality somewhat. He will be more mature and calculating. I still think I will keep his foot in the mouth personality, simply because you don't learn manners in boot camp.  

I will try to post more chapters as soon as possible.

The Administration will accept all comments and constructive criticism.

All flames will be given to the Covenant as target practise.


	3. The War

**Disclaimer:** All series belong to respective owners.

**The Halo of a Hero**

Chapter 3 The War

The year is 2552. Planet Earth still exists, but overpopulation has forced many of the former residents to colonize other worlds. Faster-then-light travel is now reality, and Earths unified government, through the United Nations Space Command, has put its full weight behind the colonization efforts; billions of humans now live on habitable planets in other solar systems. A keystone of human colonization efforts is the planet Reach, interstellar naval yard that builds colony ships for civilians and warships for the UNSC´s armed forces. Conveniently close to Earth, Reach is also a hub of scientific and military activity.

**Flashback**

**Date: 2527**

"Good morning, Admiral", a short woman in a military dress uniform greeted the old man that walked through the door.

"Good morning, Captain Summers", the man said to his secretary as he walked into his office.

Admiral Winston Wulf sat in his leather chair and began to work on some papers that were left from the previous day. When he was done, he laid them in a neat pile on his desk. He then turned to his computer and was about to begin to answer many of the mails he had gotten during the night, when Captain Summers walked into the office and took the pile of papers.

"Are all the documents to General Adams?" she asked as she began to sort through the pile.

"The document in the bottom is to Sergeant Harris, and the brown folder is to the Office of Naval Intelligence, the rest is to the General" he replied as he looked up from the screen of the computer.

He then resumed the work on his computer. She just nodded and was about to leave the office, but then she remembered something. 

"So how did the meeting with the Fujika & Shaw go" she asked as she stood in the doorway.

He looked up from his screen once again.

"Good, the testing for the next generation FTL-engines is in the final stages, and they can deliver a functional engine in less then six months". If the people in the government will give us a bigger budget to allow it, of course He thought to himself. They really needed that money, so they could manufacture more and faster ships, too speed up the colonisation. The earth had currently a population of 32 billion and was basically bursting because of the amount.

"Well that was it, we looked at the engine, and then we ate dinner discussing the future. Wasn't much more."

"Okay. Oh, by the way don't forget the meeting whit the UNSC High Command at four o'clock today" she said as she left the office.

He sat in his chair and looked out the window. This meeting is important, I can't screw up He thought to himself as he took out some tobacco and his old pipe, the room soon filled with the scent of smoke. The meeting would decide if they would get aditional funding too build more ships and expand the military and scientific installations on Reach. Well, hope they are in the giving mood he thought as he blew a trail of smoke into the air and out the open window.

"Funding approved, The UNSC will get an additional funding of 900 billion to use in colonisation purposes"

Admiral Wulf silently congratulated himself, he had managed to convince the High Command to give them the money.

**End flashback**

Twenty-one years ago, contact with the outer colony Harvest was lost. A battle group sent to investigate was almost completely destroyed; only one badly damaged ship returned. Its crew told of a seemingly unstoppable alien warship that had effortlessly annihilated their forces.

**Flashback**

**Date: ****April 28 2531******

"You whished to see me, Admiral" a man in his forties, with small amounts of grey hair around his temples, asked.

"Captain Evanz, good that you're here. I have a mission for you" a slightly overweight man standing and looking out at the Reach sunset said.

"What kind of a mission" he asked.

"We have lost all contact with the colony world Harvest, and we want you to investigate" he replied without taking his eyes of the sunset.

"Do you suspect an attack" he asked. "Pirates maybe"

"Maybe, but it is very unlikely, Harvest is a relatively new colony and doesn't have any valuable resources or strategic importance. It could be something simple as some technical difficulties. In either case we want you to investigate and do something about it"

He then proceeded and gave the captain a folder.

"Your ship and five others will leave the docks tomorrow. All information you need is in the folder. You are dismissed.

"Yes sir" the captain saluted and then left the room.

The admiral still stood and looked out of the window at the beautiful sunset.

------------------------------

"This is Reach control, you have authorisation to leave"

Captain Evanz stood on the bridge as the speakers relied the message.

"Roger that control" He said over the com-channel.

"Ok, bring engines up to 15%, and then proceed to rendezvous point."

"Aye aye captain"

The captain then stood before the main view-screen and looked out as the docks and shipyards of Reach slowly drifted by. They sun reflecting of the black-grey metal. He then walked over to one of the many monitors that were lined after the wall.

"Engine status?" He asked the ensign that was currently running a check.

"All green, no overheating in the fusion core or cracks in the cooling system."

The reason the captain was worried over the engines was because the ship had been on a major repair and maintenance check in one of Reach's many dry-docks, because of a crack in a cooling pipe that flooded an entire compartment with cooling-fluid. That resulted in a overheating in the reactor and engines, and both engines, reactor and cooling systems were replaced. The engines were brand new and used for the first time, so they would need to warm them up slowly or risk another overheating.

"This is Captain Evanz, commanding officer on the UNSC YORK"

"This is Captain Hylland, UNSC KURSK, well we should probably leave for Harvest now, don't you think so Captain Evanz.

"Yes, see you at Harvest" he replied.

--------------------

"Leaving slip-space in five, four, three, two and one. Entering normal space now."

He saw as the light of the stars returned. When you travelled faster then light everything was black, because the light was to slow to catch up with them. He had always hated the darkness of slip-space, it just gave him the creeps.

"We are in the outskirts of the system"

"Any contact with Harvest?"

"No sir, nothing on long or short-range receivers. Shall I send a message?

"Yes" he replied in a calm voice.

"This is the UNSC light cruiser YORK, do you read me, over"

All the crew was quiet as they waited for an answer. After about a minute, witch felt like an eternity Evanz broke the silence.

"Try again"

The com-officer nodded and then lifted the microphone to his mouth.

"This is the UNSC light cruiser YORK, do you read me, over"  

After yet a minute, Evanz was yet again the one to break the silence.  

"Again"

"This is the UNSC light cruiser YORK, do you read me, over,

Silence.

"Again"

Harvest control, this is the UNSC light cruiser YORK, please respond.

Silence.

"Something is wrong. Their long-range transmitter may be down, but they should at least have a couple of short-range transmitters. Warn the others and bring all ships to yellow alert."

"Aye aye captain."

They would have laughed and said that the captain was just paranoid, but something felt horribly wrong, and all were having a sinking feeling in their stomach.

The ships where slowly moving towards the planet Harvest. As they left a dust cloud and were able to see the planet with their own eyes, some gasped, others where looking freightend but most where just standing there, to shocked to say anything, their minds not believing what their eyes told them.

Captain Evanz looked shocked at was once was a beautiful planet, home of millions. Now it was just a black sphere, with small lines of red where the planets crust had been too weak and let the burning magma flow out.

"Send… Send a message"

"S-sir"

"Now, damn it."

Every one was brought back to reality by the loud voice of the captain.

"This is the UNSC YORK please respond."

Silence.

"Harvest do you read me over"

Silence.

"Harvest please answer damn it"

staticstatic

"I think we got something"

YOU WILL JOIN THE OTHERS, THIS IS THE DAY YOU DIE PATHETIC HUMANS

"What the hell…"

Captain Evanz knew that whatever made those words wasn't human. The voice was just too deep, sounding more like growling than talking. And he also knew that the speaker meant every word, the voice filled with hate and anger. So he reacted the only way he could.

"BRING SHIP TO COMBAT ALERT ALPHA!"

Barely had he screamed those words than a purple craft came out from the shadow of Harvest moon. The ship was huge, maybe three times as long as the YORK, and the YORK was over one kilometre. The craft was shaped as a teardrop with a hull that appeared to glow purple as the light from the nearby sun reflected on it. It slowly came towards them, two points on the ships bow appeared to burn with menacing small blue flames.

"Weapon Status?"

Archer missile pods A1-B8 loaded in 30 seconds, C1-D8 one minute, E1-H8 three minutes.

Magnetic Acceleration Canon (MAC) five minutes.

"Get me a target solution for the archer missiles and MAC."

"Target solution on the way." The entire crew was now working like mad.

"Scramble the Longbow interceptors."

Along the side of the five cruisers the hangar bays opened and let the longbows leave the belly of the cruisers. The eight longbows from every ship, began to fly pass the cruisers and take a defensive position too protect the cruisers from incoming interceptors. The longbows looking very much like the stealth-bombers from the early 21-century. 

The forty smaller crafts then began to take tactical formations, making it harder for potential enemy fighters too take them out, but still retaining a defensive position among the cruisers.

The burning spots on the alien ship shot away to burning blue orbs at one of the cruisers.

"The alien ship has opened fire"

"Weapons?" Evanz asked.

"Archer missiles pods A1-B8 good to go"

"Target solution ready"

"Return fire"

The YORK then opened fire and let lose 48 archer missiles, three missiles from every missile pod.

At the same time the UNSC KURSK opened fire with their archer missiles, and then was hit by the alien weapon. The first volley hit the starboard side of the hull, digging a deep gash from the bow to the middle of the ship. The screams of the crewmen that was sucked out in space wasn't heard in the cold vacuum. The second volley hit the bow of the ship, going through the bridge and the continued right through the ship to the fusion reactor. The ship's middle exploded throwing away the burnt out bow and stern of the ship.

Captain Evanz watched as the ship was engulfed in a fireball. He then turned his attention back to the alien ship as the archer missiles were nearing their target. The first wave of missiles from the YORK hit only a few moments before the destroyed ship KURSK missiles hit.

The missiles hit the starboard side of the bow, flashing a bright yellow as they exploded.

When the light cleared captain Evanz expected to see a destroyed alien warship.

Instead he saw the same ship still without a scratch but a glowing field of purple energy surround the area of impact.

As the three other cruisers missiles hit they had the same effect, no damage to the ship whatsoever. The alien ship wasn't sitting idle and fired once again on one of the four remaining ships. This time the ship was hit in the rear engine compartment, having the same effect as the last time, a destroyed human ship.

damn we are down to three ships, without a single dent on the enemy. This isn't working, I can't let the men under my command die in a fight they cannot win

"Recall the longbows, we are retreating."

"To all remaining ships, pull back to a secure location and make a slip-space jump."

"Weapons?"

"Missiles pods C1-D8 ready"

"Open fire"

The ship then let lose with another round of missiles, but this time they were a distraction to let them escape. As the missiles hit, the glowing shield went from glowing blue to flashing white and then disappeared. The humans didn't know that they had taken the enemy shields out and was still trying to retreat. The three retreating human ships was about to enter slip space as the alien ship let lose a barrage of those burning blue orbs.

"EVADE"  

Captain Evanz saw as the first volley hit a ship in the lower of the starboard side, and came out on the other side. The ship went into an uncontrollable spin, flames and air escaping from the large hole in the hull and then exploded in a bright fireball.

The second volley hit the other ship in the forward compartments, ripping away the sensors and communications relays. Another volley hit the ship in the lower middle of the ship, cutting through three decks before it came out on the other side. The ship was still moving as a third volley hit them in the left engine. The ship then was able to enter slip-space, even tough it had massive damage.

Good at least one ship managed to escape Captain Evanz thought as he saw the events play out before him.

"Coordinates confirmed, activating slip-space engines in ten, nine, eight…"

The alien warship charged up for another volley.

"Seven, six, five…"

Blue orbs of destruction heading their way at high speed.

"Four, three, tw…"

The bright flash was the last thing Captain Evanz saw as the blue orbs hit them. The superheated orbs struck the bridge straight on. The activated slip-space engine overheated and then exploded, incinerating the YORK in just a millisecond.

The aliens had scored first blood.

**End flashback**

This was humankind's first encounter with a group of aliens they eventually came to know as the Covenant, a collective of alien races united in their fanatical religious devotion. Covenant religious elders declared humanity an affront to the gods, and the Covenant warrior caste waged a holy war against humanity with gruesome diligence.

**Flashback**

Private Janus Sommersted was looking out the back hatch of the pelican drop-ship, and clutching his MA5B Assault Rifle tightly. They where about to land in one of the major cities of the planet Senel. He had been on many missions against the Covenant, but he still hated the insertions by drop-ship. There were about a 20% chance that a dropship going in the first wave would be shot down by enemy AA-fire or fighters. And sitting in the ship there wasn't a goddamned thing he could do about it.

"Approaching target, ETA 5 minutes" The voice from the pilot came from the speakers.

"Listen up we are going in too give support to the few pockets of remaining soldiers in the capital city of Cell." The sergeant said.

"Sarge, do we have any armour or air support?"

"No, the fly-boys need all their forces in the battle in the orbit, and tanks are pretty useless in a cityfight. But the 38 scout company was able to give us a couple of warthog M12 Light Recon Vehicles."

"No air support? Aww shit."

"Adams I will just pretend I didn't hear that. Now back to the mission, we will hold our position for two hours and then get our asses to the evac-point. The two hours will let the 108, 93 and the 89 company evac the city and help all civilians get to a rescue boat. DO YOU GET ME MARINES"

"SIR YES SIR"

Private Sommersted just continued to look out the hatch. Another battle, doesn't it ever end.

"ETA 30 seconds"

"Lock and load marines"

He quietly pulled back the slide, inserted a full clip of ammo into the rifle, pushed the slide forwards so that a cartridge was placed in the chamber, and then switched the safety of. The small display at the top of the rifle counted up to sixty to indicate that it was fully loaded.

"Going in, the LZ is hot."

"You know our motto." The sergeant screamed over the engines roar.

"IF VIOLENCE DOESN'T SOLVE IT, MORE VIOLENCE WILL" They all replied.

"TOUCHDOWN, HIT IT MARINES" The pilot's voice came from the speakers.

Sommersted jumped down from were the pelican was hovering. He brought up the rifle to his eyes and began to scan the surrounding area, searching for the enemy he knew was out there. They where standing on a house, three floors tall. The roof was a parking lot, the burning remains of numerous civilian cars that had been hit in the Covenants first bombardment spread out. They began to move towards the second level of the building, their eyes sweeping over the area. As they entered the second level they found the warthogs they been promised.

There were four warthogs and they were 12. Three for every jeep. Perfect Sommersted thought.

"Buckle up and follow me" Came the sergeants orders as he climbed up in the driver seat of one of the jeeps.

Sommersted climbed into the passenger seat of the sergeant's jeep. He didn't jump into the back where the M12 LAAG chain gun was (Light Anti-Aircraft Gun), the gunners hadn't any protection from incoming fire and the Covenant always targeted the gunners first. He was a veteran and god be damned if he didn't survive this war.

"Move out" the sergeant ordered.

As the moved down to the first level the heard the dog like barking the grunts. As Sommersted saw the grunts they looked to be about 5 feet tall and they were moving towards them, using there long arms as an extra leg. They had short legs and a big life-support system on their backs. The only thing seen of their faces was their small red eyes and the rest was a mask making it able for them to breathe methane, the atmosphere of their home world.

The were, as the name suggested the cannon-fodder of the Covenant army. Their standard way to defeat an enemy not skill or advanced tactics but by sheer numbers. A group defending against a grunt charge usually ran out of ammo before they ran out of targets.

This group was a small one, only ten all in all. Better kill em before they see us Somersted thought as he raised his rifle and took aim. The sergeant hit the paddle to the metal and their warthog flew out of the building and right through the group of grunts, driving over and killing three. He opened fire with a short controlled burst at one of the grunts, killing him instantly. The sergeant was driving in a circle around the grunts so that the gunner could get a good aim. Once in a while the sergeant would drive through the grunt group too score some roadkills. He opened fire again and as he looked around he saw that all the grunts were dead. 

They began too drive through the city, the sergeants jeep first. The buildings around them was for the most totally ruined by the Covenants bombardment of the planet, black covering the few buildings still standing, a testament to the power of the Covenant battle fleet.

They stopped at a bridge. The bridge wasn't big maybe five metres wide and twenty metres long as it went over a small canal. It was an idle place to defend, the buildings on either side of the road would offer good protection and would make the Covenant have too walk through the heavy crossfire. The bridge and the road on the other side wouldn't give the Covenant any protection, it was just open ground.

"Position the LAIG´s (Light Anti-Infantry Gun) there, there and there. Four man in every group." The sergeant pointed at the two buildings at either side of the road, and then at a large crater a bit down the road.

Sommersted ran up to one of the buildings and walked inside. In one of the walls, the one facing the road there was an opening, probably from a window, about nine feet wide and one and a half feet tall. One of the many explosions had made the roof collapse and had filled the floor with sand and gravel, so it was able too lie down at a thirty degrees angel and look out. The perfect machine gun nest. he thought to himself.

The LAIGs was assembled and a belt with 500 rounds was inserted in the chamber. The two man team operating the LAIG (gunner and reloader) was currently running from the warthog with cases full of ammo-belts to the LAIG. They already had about 2500 rounds for the LAIG and over 1500 rounds for the assault rifles. They would be for the men in every nest, the two operating the LAIG, and two equipped with assault rifles and grenades that would protect the gunners if it came to close quarter's battle. The team in the crater was also equipped with a small mortar to quickly dispatch close formations of enemy infantry and light vehicles.

They had already been at the bridge for about half an hour, and they were happy that they hadn't made any enemy contact.

But they knew it wouldn't last long, it was just a question of time before the Covenant would arrive.

Sir inbound enemy ground troopscame from the sniper positioned on a nearby roof.

How many?the sergeant asked

Sommersted looked at the nearby roof where he saw a small mound of what looked like debris or stones. Good camo, they Covenant won't find him there

At least fifty grunts, maybe fifteen to twenty jackals and at least ten elites, I also see three… make that four hunters

Mortar team target those hunters, fire on my command, all others hold firehe heard the sergeant say over the com.

He could now see the enemies as the made there way towards the bridge. They wouldn't detect them because of the perfect fire-positions they were in.

Fire

THUNK! That was all that was heard as the mortar shot its grenade in the sky, and even before the first one had landed there was another THUNK!

The covenant didn't understand that it was a weapon and thought that I was just a piece of rubble falling from one of the surrounding buildings.

The first grenade hit in the middle of two hunters. The hunters were huge about 12 feet tall and about 8 feet in their hunched over combat stance. Their armour was blue and their left arms were covered in a big metal shield protecting almost their entire front. Their right hands was intergrained with a big fuel-rod gun, the Covenants answer too the bazooka. From their backs their was huge spines that stuck up in the air.

Don't stand in front of a hunter or you probably get smashed, and don't stand behind one ether or you will be pierced with their spines, well standing even near a hunter is just plane stupid. Sommersted thought to himself.

The first grenade killed two of the four hunters and about half a dozen of grunts. The next grenade hit and killed the last two hunters and an elite. 

Fire at willthe sergeant said as he opened fire with his assault rifle and began too mow down grunts.  

Sommersted was a veteran and had been through many battles and knew which enemies to shot at first. He took careful aim at a jackal. The jackal was currently sitting in the small crater that the mortars had dug out. Its body was looking like a humans but the skin was grey and the head was that of a featherless bird. In his hand was a blue glowing round shield, and in his other was a plasma pistol. It was a little shorter than 6 feet.

He aimed at the jackals head and let out a short controlled burst. The jackal hit the ground as a limp corpse. The fight was going good, the LAIGs and mortar taking out dozens of enemies.

"RELOAD!" He heard the gunner next to him scream.

The Covenant was returning fire now, but they weren't even near to hit their positions.

The screeching of covenant engines was heard and he looked as two ghosts began to near the bridge.

"Target the ghosts" he screamed as he let his weapon go into full automatic. Aiming at a couple of elites.

The gunner replied as he changed the aim a little and then filled the air with burning metal.

The left gravity pod of one of the ghosts was ripped of and resulted that the ghosts crashed into each other with a loud explosion. He then heard a swoosh and a loud bang. He looked over to where the mortar squad was stationed and saw their nest burning with blue flames.

He looked down the street and saw the Wrath tank slowly hovering towards the bridge.

THEY GOT ARMOUR SUPPORThe heard the snipers voice say over the com-canals.

He saw as the sniper began too shot at the tank punching holes through the armour.

The tank fired once again barely missing their nest. A stray plasma shot went in the nest and hit the marine to the left of him, he saw as the plasma burnt away his face and he smelled and heard as the flesh burnt.

We have held this position for two hours, RETREATthe sergeants voice said over the com canals.

Sommersted saw as the wrath tank exploded thanks to the constant fire from the marines, but the tank had managed to shot away another blast heading straight towards their nest. He jumped to his feet and ran towards the door. The blast hit killing the two remaining marines and boiling away Sommersteds armour and seriously burning his back. He felt as the combat armour melted and burned together with his skin. The pain was unbelievable as he hit the ground face first. He couldn't feel his legs and he could barely move. He felt as he began to feel cold and tired. Only just barely managing to keep his eyes open. My legs… I can't feel my legs He had trouble breathing. CoughCough He looked at where he had coughed. Blood, I coughed up bloodHe thought. He then heard something.

"WORT, WORT, WORT" he immediately recognised the Covenant.

He felt a kick to his ribs, strong enough to spin him over on his back. His ribs and chest burned, as he looked up too see five Covenant elites, all staring down on him. He slowly reached down too his belt with his right hand and then put it over his chest. The mandibles of the elites clicked. The elite looked down at him.

"YOUR DESTRUCTION IS THE WILL OF THE GODS, AND WE ARE THERE INSTRUMENTS" The deep growling sound as the elite spoke was making a cold shiver travel through what was left of his spine.

"Go to hell" was all he managed to say as his lungs where burning, making it almost impossible to talk. His right hand still clutching the object in his hand, holding it protectively over his heart.

The elite answered with pulling up his plasma rifle and pointing it at his face. He only smiled and closed his eyes. He coughed once and then his head fell back and hit the ground. He stopped to breath and his hearts stopped to beat. His right hand fell from his chest and the object fell to the ground with a kling-kling the elites didn't have time too react as the

M9 HE-DP Grenade exploded, killing the five elites instantly. 

**End flashback**

After a series of crushing defeats and obliterated colonies, UNSC admiral Preston Cole established the Cole protocol: No vessel may inadvertently lead the Covenant to Earth. When forces withdraw, ships must avoid Earth-bound vectors-even if that means jumping without proper navigational calculations. Vessels in danger of capture must self-destruct.

**Flashback**

"Sir? A young captain walked into his office.

"Yes" he replied.

"The Covenant has glassed another planet, the planet Dern and a battlegoup of nine cruisers." The captain answered.

He looked at the captain, not showing a sign of emotion outwards. Inside he prayed for the millions of lives lost. The Covenant didn't take enemies, they killed everything, women, children, old and the sick and weak. Thy where brutal merciless murderers. He just dismissed the captain that left in a hurry.

It can't continue like this, it's the ninth colony in six months The defences they had put up to protect were failing miserably, very few ships made it back from a fight. They couldn't defend the colonies with brute force so what would they do? Hide them he thought to himself. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. The Covenants usual tactic was too engage a colony and as the ships escaped for other colonies the Covenant would track down the ships and finding the colonies. After a bit of time they would attack and the cycle would repeat itself. They had too make sure that they didn't find the other colonies. When he had formulated the plan in his mind, he lifted his phone and called the military council together for a meeting.

-------------------

"Admiral Cole your suggestion to protect the knowledge of our colonies locations has been discussed and approved. From the next Friday the Cole protocol will have full effect." 

**End flashback**

On Reach, a secret military project to create cyborg super-soldiers takes on a newfound importance. The soldiers of the SPARTAN-II project rack up an impressive record against the Covenant in test deployments, but there are too few of them to turn the tide of this war.

Existing Spartan-II soldiers are recalled to Reach for further augmentation. The plan: board a Covenant vessel with the improved Spartan-IIs and learn the location of the Covenant home world. Two days before the mission begins, Covenant forces strike Reach and annihilate the colony. The Covenant are now on Earths doorstep. One ship, the Pillar of Autumn, escapes with one of the last Spartan-II and makes a blind jump into deep space, hoping to lead away the Covenant from Earth and the retreating Reach fleet.

**Authors Notes**

Well that went good. Now that I have two pre-readers I think that most of my mistakes will be found before I post the chapter. It is a lot easier with a helping hand.

Hats of and a big thank to Erich Hansson and Legendary Neo-Jin.

Now to a little questions and answers.

Q: Why I use whit as WITH.

A:  Sorry, my mistake. Now that I got pre-readers I think that most of the grammar and spelling should be right. Don't send me e-mails about small mistakes. The whit-with mistakes was a big one and thanks to pointing that out. Won't happen again. Blame my English teacher.

Q:Hasley-Halsey?

A: My mistake again.

Q: Why Mendez is younger than in the book.

A: At the excavation Dr Halsey was 22, and if you think that she is too young for all those grades, well she is a brainiac. I changed the ages so Mendez is now about 15 years older then her. Didn't know the exact age difference when I first wrote this so I just guessed. And the personality I gave him, well it was before the war so he was probably a little more open.

Q: Gravity? Human ships?

A: The human ships have gravity, at least in my fic. Why? Because I say so.

**REVIEWS PLZ**


	4. The death of an Innocent

**Disclaimer: **All series belong to respective owners.

**Chapter 4 The death of an Innocent**

There are many dimensions in the universe, hundreds, thousands, millions, all created by the forerunner with a single purpose, to sustain the life of all the different races and species.

 As the creation of life, an event the forerunner came to call "The Birth of the Second children", they where soon too run out of space, their home dimension not big enough too contain all the children.

 As the forerunner saw this they began to look after additional planets and solar systems to place their children. They found nothing. Once again the forerunner resorted to using the Gateways that hadn't seen use in millions of years. But there was one problem, there wasn't any material that could sub stain life in the other dimensions. A very few began then too work on to create small traces of energy that would evolve into a species composed of energy**(1)** and could survive in the turmoil's of the immaterium.

 Others of the forerunner began to build the Constructs, a small sphere, not bigger than a fist. These Constructs where despite its size maybe one of the forerunners mightiest inventions. The Construct created an artificial white hole, the opposite to the black hole, instead of sucking up material it generated it, giving the forerunner the space needed too continue the creations of the Children.

The dimensions created had all different sets of natural laws, some had identical and some didn't even have the most superficial resemblance. These different environments made the bacteria evolve to different species, but all still sharing the basic connection to the forerunner.

The fact that most of the children were located in different realities made the forerunner build different Gateways. Some Gateways, like the original was huge too allow transport of massive ships and equipment, others where smaller like a normal door, and the smallest was a single use gateway having different appearances but about the size of a small trinket, drawing upon the users own energy reserves instead of an energy reactors.  

As the forerunners where destroyed, they left their equipment and because they built it too last as long as a lifetime (forever, they are immortal) many of their children found it. Some looked completely useless, but others where found and where thought too be holy magical artefacts from the gods themselves. Some of the more advanced children found the constructs and used them to create entire universes and then later being called gods.

So the facts remain that all in the universe are the forerunners children, demon, god and man alike.

And on the small planet of Earth, or Terra as it is called by some, a small boy looks into a campfire, not knowing of the role he is about to play in the history of an entire universe.

**Earth****, ****Japan****.  **

**Present**

A small boy, maybe 5 or 6 is sitting before a small campfire his grey-blue eyes reflecting the light of the flames. His raven black hair is tied up in a pigtail, his clothes a dirty and worn gi. He is slowly taking out small splinters of rock from his left wrist. _Why the hell has pops gotta be so mean to me every day,_ The young boy thought as he cleaned the wound with a little water, not winching once.

_It is not manly to cry or show signs of pain_ He heard his fathers voice in his head as he thought of what his father would say now if he was awake.

That was the reason he was patching up his arm now and not five hours ago when he got the wound after crashing into a three after a spar with his father.

_Pops would just say that I am a weak little girl for complaining about a small scratch_ He thought with a bitter voice that one so young shouldn't have.

 He slowly took a clean piece of cloth out of his backpack and tied it around the wound. He looked up at the stars.

_What should I do, I don't know how much more of this I can take_.

 The "Training" he went through was inhuman by anyone's standard. Carrying his and his fathers backpack up a mountain with his father sitting atop the packs to increase endurance. Climbing a step rock wall with a 100 kilo stone tied around his legs to strengthen his arms. Being tied behind a train to increase his speed and being forced to go through the US MARINES training program to help him gain some form of discipline. This was just a small part of all Genmas "training" methods. The last wasn't bad but it wasn't directly what a six year old boy wanted to do.  

Most of the things Ranma was made too do was considered even cruel by most kind of demons. He didn't get much food because his father told him he would fight better with an empty stomach, he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone because they would just be in the way of his training and he wasn't even allowed to see his mom because she would make him grow soft.

That was the worst of all, not to be able to se his mother. He really missed her. And all thanks to his father. _You must carry on the anything goes school of martial arts_. He hadn't even asked, just one day he had dragged him away from home. That was over a year ago.

The only thing he had left to remember his mother by was a small green crystal necklace she had given him. He hadn't showed it to his father, he would have just sold it. The thought of that made him clench his fist over the necklace that he had in his left pocket.  

I _hate him, hate him, HATE,_ He thought

Tomorrow they would begin training in a special martial arts technique. That usually meant that Ranma would be in a world of hurt, and get some serious injuries. He dreaded the morning and the day that would come.

-------------------------------

 "Wake up your good for nothing lazy boy" His father cried out as he was thrown of the ground and towards a three.

 His skill not developed enough combined with the fact that he was just a few moments ago sleeping made him hit the tree with a loud BANG He slumped to the ground, clutching his chest as he tried to regain his breath.

"Your weak little girl, you should have been able to dodge that tree." His father told him as he sat before the campfire.

He stood up, giving his father a cold glare, the man in question wasn't noticing because he was eating the supply of food that they had gathered.

"Where is my food?" He asked as the man finished the last of the food.

"If you where fast enough, you would have been able to get some food" Genma replied with his I-am-the-master-and-you-are-the-student face.

He didn't do anything, because Genma was still better then him and would trash him almost as fast as Genma emptied the food-crate.

"Today Ranma I will teach you a martial arts technique that will make you unbeatable. It is the feared Neko-Ken, the cat-fist and will make you ten times as strong and fast." His father told him with joy.

He wondered what kind of injuries he would get this time. This was just another of his pops crazy training-methods. He really liked martial arts, before he left home he always spared with his kindergarten rival Ryoga Hibiki. He always loved to fight and defeat stronger opponents and he loved to train and learn new techniques. But this wasn't martial arts it was just torture.

"We will train in a place not far from here." His father said as he shouldered his backpack.

"Yes pops" He replied with a sad voice.

They began to move through the forest, the bright and sunny day doing nothing to improve his mood. He looked at a bird in the sky, it was a black raven.

He just shocks his head. Sometimes he wished he would be as free as the birds in the sky. No obligations, no talk about honour, just himself travelling the world.

_I wonder what injuries I will get this time, maybe a broken rib, a burn on my torso or perhaps knife in my leg_

"We are here" His father said as they walked into a clearing. He could see some houses through the threes.

_Probably a town_ he thought.

"But, what is so special about this place pops?"

His father pointed to a small hatch in the ground.

"And?"

His father opened it and he heard the hissing of cats.

"The procedure to learn the Neko-Ken is simple. Tie the trainee in a lot of fish products, throw him into a pit full of starving cats and wait until he learns the Neko-Ken.

Ranma just stared shocked at his father, not even he could be that stupid. He just had a serious face.

_Aw Shit_ He thought as he began too run towards the houses. He took five steps before he felt his father hit him over the head, HARD. He was knocked out.

 As he woke up he found that he was tied with a band of fish-rolls.

"No pop, don't do it" He screamed as his father dragged him towards the pit. The hissing of the cats sounding horrific to the scared six year old boy.

Genma didn't listen as he tossed Ranma into the pit.

_It is for his own good_ Genma thought.

---------------

 "NO POPS, NOT AGAIN, PLEASE NOT THE CATS" Was all Ranma said as he was dragged towards the pit.

"Stop being such a sissy, boy" Ranma said as he once again was thrown into the pit.

He felt as the razor sharp claws of the cats once again began to cut into his skin. He was feeling weak and cold as another claw ripped a deep gash on his back. His screams died, he wasn't able to muster the energy to continue. The pain in his body began to disappear, instead replaced with a cold numbness. He was so tired, only barely able to keep his eyes open. Another cut in his back, this one not even registered by his brain. He was dieing, feeling as both his sanity and life ran away, more for every second. Soon he would not be able to hold onto both sanity and life, he had to choose witch one to let go.

In thousand other dimensions Ranma let go of his sanity to cling onto his life, and by that act bringing the Neko-Ken into effect, but here he let go of his life, clinging to the last of his sanity.

_No I don't want to go insane, I will rather die sane than live insane_ He thought to himself. He moved his left hand that had been cut free towards his pocket, feeling the small jewel that his mother had given him.

His last thought before it all went black was of his mother as he clenched his fist over the small pendant.

**Authors Notes:**

**Cliffhanger! Well review Please**

(1) They are non-organic life-forms living in dimensions where the only thing existing was energy. Basically living energy with a mind. They don't age and are in their home-dimensions usually pretty powerful.  They can not take a physical form in another dimension but they can "posses" another organic being, like a demon. They need an energy link to their home when they leave their dimension or they will be returned. The wall that is between the different dimensions must be weakened for the being to appear. This is usually done by forming a mental link to people. This is usually done by thinking about the "demon" and the "demon" usually does this by making people pray and hold ceremonies. Good example for an energy creature is the four warp demon gods and their demon followers in Montymouse fan fic The forgotten primarch of chaos. Butt all energy creatures are not evil, only 95% are evil.

Q: Why I don't use banshees in the third chapter and why I didn't do a flashback on the Spartan II training.

A1 No it doesn't have anything to do with the misuse of banshees in multiplayer and LANs. But I agree with you, I played Halo on internet at my cousins house and using a banshee is cheating. I used it once and at the end I had died 8 times and killed 124 people. It takes away the fun because it is so damn easy.

A2 The reason why I didn't have a flashback is that the next chapter will be only about the Spartan II training. Don't want to use all the stuff and the have to write the same thing again. Nuffsaid.

Big thanks to Erich Hansson for pre-reading this.


	5. The birth of a Soldier

**Disclaimer:** All series belong to respective owners.

****

**The Halo of the Hero**

**Chapter 5 The birth of an Soldier**

Catharine Halsey walked into the office of Dr. Izack Foret. The last eight years of war had changed him, he no longer had the small smile instead it was replaced with a look of total defeat. Both his son and daughter had died in this war, his son as one of the billions of dead colonists, and his daughter as a UNSC Marine in one of the countless battles. The only thing he had left was the science.

"Catherine, have a seat" He said as he closed a folder and placed it into one of the desks drawers.

She did as she was told.

"Catherine, I want to know how far you have come with our work" he asked as he took out a cigar from another drawer.

She raised an eyebrow.

"What work" she asked.

"Cut the crap Catherine, I know about your work for ONI, section three" he said a little irritated.

"How… It doesn't matter. But you know if ONI finds out they will have your hide" She said

"Yes I know, but I want to change that"

"What? How?

"I also know about the cut in your funding, that you will have to stop the project if you don't get additional money" he said as he puffed on his cigar.

"And?" She asked.

"I will provide you with that money, if you would give me access to ONI files"

_The money to continue my research. It's almost too good to be true. But can I convince ONI about it? They are known for their paranoia when it comes to hand out information. _She looked up into the eyes of Izack. _He is a respected scientist, and could be very useful to ONI, they would probably allow him access, but with a lot of restrictions._ With her decision made she replied.

"I will have to talk about it with ONI. I can't promise anything." She said and then left the office.

------------------------

"So, how far are we in the project" he asked. They where currently standing in a research lab in one of ONIs facilities. It was located 3 km underground in the former titanium mines on Reach, protected, by layers of concrete, dura steel and titanium-A battle plate. It could withstand almost anything including a 250 megaton nuclear warhead.

"Before I let you access this file I want too ask how much you know about the project"

"Well, almost nothing. Just the basic, create a genetically enhanced soldier"

"Okay, well the project is called SPARTAN-II, and you are right it is to create a better soldier. The project is split into three parts. The first part is the Spartans themselves, only subjects with excellent physics and intellect was even considered. Even fewer are even genetically compatible with the later stages of the project so a good part falls out. Because of the fact that genes aren't everything they also need the proper military training and discipline to become the soldiers we want. We have the location of 189 potential subjects, children between the age of five to seven years. The will undergo extensive training in all fields of warfare to be able to counter any threat.

She typed in some commands on a keyboard. The massive screen dominating one of the walls came to life and displayed the photos of the 189 children, Then it started, from the top left photo, display the files of each and every child, names, dates of birth, parents, school, every little bit of information the ONI was able to get.

"You will use children as soldiers?" Izack said shocked.

"After fifteen years of training they won't be children anymore"

"And where are the children coming from?"

"Everywhere, we will have to abduct them from their parents and then replace them with flash clones"

"But…"

"I know that it's unethical, but these children may very well be our final hope"

"I… I understand"

Catherine looked at Izack, an emotionless expression on her face.

"The second stage of the SPARTAN-II project is the geneticall enhancements, cybernetic implants and augmented body which will make the subjects faster, stronger and smarter. These are based on the geneticall-information found in the derelict spacecraft on Moln. We couldn't copy the serum found, but it gave us a few hints on how to create our own augmentations. We couldn't use it either, the change would put the subjects' body under a lot of stress and probability of survival is about 1:1439."

She typed in another command, and the screen changed and displayed strings of DNA, neurological implants, medical files and procedures too successfully implant the different augmentations.

"So how big are the odds of survival for our own enhancements?"

"About 60%, but the increase in performance is well worth the risk.

"The third stage of the SPARTAN-II project is the Spartans armour, also based on some of the information we attained on Moln, codenamed MJOLNIR. The armour has a personal shield generated by a small fusion-reactor built into the armour."

"You have shields?!"

"Yes, this will put the Spartans on even ground with the Covenant. The armour consists of a multilayer alloy which can deflect and absorb ballistic and energy based weaponry with ease. The under layer consists of a stretchable layer of Kevlar 8 which can change density depending on the situation. The armour is airtight and can operate in the vacuum of space, it has a supply of air for 90 minutes. The armour is filled with coolant gel which will regulate the body temperature and protect against heavy plasma burns. It will increase the reflexes of the Spartan due to a neural interface. The armour has its drawbacks however, it weighs almost 500 kilos, 600 with Spartan in it. The weight will reduce strength, speed and mobility of the Spartans before they get used to it. To compensate we have decided to train the Spartans in increased gravity so they can get used to the feel of it. If anyone besides a Spartan tried on the armour they would be crushed. The armour is in the final stages of testing but we have decided that we will modify and try to increase the armours performance until the Spartans have grown up, which gives us about ten-fifteen years"

"This is a really impressive piece of hardware you have got here."

"Yes, the prototypes are finished and are running without any malfunctions. Care too take a look?"

"Sure, why not"

Izack was still shocked at the way Dr. Halsey disregarded human life, but he also understood how she reasoned, the Covenant had won victory after victory, destroyed all attempts to win in space, but they had more luck in ground engagements, scoring some rare few victories. But it wasn't enough, the covenant had eight years into the war glassed over 230 of the outer colonies, killed over 78 billion civilians and the weren't stopping. They needed something that could go toe to toe against superior numbers, something that could fight superior technology, they needed the SPARTANS-II.

--------------------------------

**1800 Hours, ****January 12, 2539******

**Epsilon Eridani System, Reach Military Complex**

**Planet Reach**

John sat in one of the chairs in the amphitheatre, looking around at the other two hundred children or so, all looking terrified and scared, all like him.

"As per Naval Code 34951, you are here by conscripted into the UNSC special warfare unit, named SPARTAN-II…"

He turned towards the voice, a lady in white lab coat and with glasses was standing on the platform in the middle of the room.

"You have been called upon to serve, you will be trained and be the best we can make you, you will be the protectors of Earth and all its colonies…"

John looked at the lady puzzled, what was she talking about?

"This will be hard to understand, but you can't return to your parents. Your training begins tomorrow."

_What, he couldn't go home? Why?_ That was all he thought as he was herded towards the exit.

Left in the empty room was Catherine Halsey and Izack Foret.

Both looking at the departing children, and both knowing that now there was no turning back.

-------------------------------

Ranma was moving slowly through the forest, clutching the deep wound on his chest.

The forest was quiet, no animals, no birds no wind, the only sound the crunching of the cold snow under his bare feet. He had woken up about an hour ago when he fell into a cold river.

He was only barely able crawl out of it and into the shore. He was in the middle of the forest, with wet clothes in the middle of the winter. He didn't know where he was but he was pretty sure it wasn't the forest he been in before.

There it was in the middle of the summer, but here it was snowing. He didn't know what would kill him first, the biting cold or the wounds. The night had already fallen and he began to think that it would be the first alternative. The wounds he could probably treat, but the cold was slowly numbing his body, making his movement sluggish.

He stumbled on a root hidden under the feet of snow, crashing into a pile of snow. He slowly turned, lying on his back he looked up at the stars. He was becoming sleepy, slowly closing his eyes. _NO! Can't… give up… Mu…must… continue… only a little…more…_His thoughts began to fad away, his mind disappearing away into the darkness. The cold of the snow began to fade away. _NOOOO! CANT… GIVE… UP… _He slowly began to stand up, and then one step at a time began to move through the forest. Each step was like a thousand knives on his bare feet. And after just fifty meters he fell to the ground and this time he wouldn't get up.

"Goddamned weather" the driver muttered as snow smacked against the windows of the truck. He looked at the back-view mirror and saw the five marines and three medics in the back compartment, and through the back window the lights of the truck behind him. This truck was part of a five vehicle convoy bringing some additional personnel to the Reach military Complex which was located in the middle of the Erandus mountain chain. They had been driving non-stop for over 8 hours. The driver silently cursed the weather. The personnel should have been sent with a ship, but the weather had made the flight impossible, the airstrip was full of snow. Instead the HQ had decided too send them with trucks. Five times they had been forced to dig trough snowdrifts.

"Goddamned weather" he muttered again. He took a look at his passenger.

In the passenger seat sat a man, maybe 40 years with grey strands of hair around his temple. His nametag identified him as M.Chief Mendez.

The last eight years Mendez had spent fighting the Covenant on many different worlds earning a reputation for being one of the best. After almost twenty years of active duty his dress-uniform was filled with campaign-ribbons and medals. His new mission was to work as a Drill Instructor to the SPARTAN-II. He should have been there yesterday but the weather had stopped him.

The snowing then began to increase, and the roar of the engines was drowned out from the howl of the wind. As they rounded a corner the driver saw something lying on the road and hit the break. The truck stopped and the driver and Mendez steeped out of the truck.

They ran over to the bundle that lied in the middle of the road and saw that it was a child, maybe 5 or 6. At first they thought that he was dead, because he was cold as ice and his body had a white almost blue tone to it, but when a small almost nonexistent breath escaped the boy, the driver called into his microphone built into his helmet.

"MEDIC, GET A MEDIC OUT HERE IMMEDIATELY"

The back hatch of the truck opened and three people jumped out and ran up to them. The medics slowly lifted up the boy on a stretcher and the covered him in blankets. Mendez saw the tracks of the boy lead into the forest.

He then ran to the second truck and opened the back hatch.

"Why have we stopped" The sergeant in charge of a group of five marines asked.

"There was a boy lying on the road, half frozen to death. He didn't have any winter-gear, just a thin shirt, pants and no shoes, so he couldn't have walked far. I want you and your men to follow the tracks and see where the boy came from, maybe there are others that need help."

"Sir yes sir!" The sergeant replied.

"You heard the man, now get moving Marines. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"

Mendez walked back to the first truck and jumped in the back-compartment. The medics where busy treating the boy. He heard as the engines of the truck started and felt as the vehicle began to move.

"How is the boy" Mendez asked

One of the medics walked over to where Mendez sat.

"Bad, real bad. The boy is severely under cooled. A couple of more minutes out in the cold and he would have died. We aren't sure if he will make it"

"Take of his clothes, they are wet and cold" One of the other medics said.

As they got his shirt of, the face of one of the medics paled and he said almost in a whisper.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to him?"

Mendez and the medic next to him walked over and looked down at the boy. He had seen many injuries in his life, plasma burns, shrapnel wounds and shot wounds, but never ever had he seen anything like this. The chest and arms of the boy was full of deep gashes and hundreds of small cuts, all bleeding. It looked like someone had taken a scalpel and then went amok and attacked the boy. Apart from his face he couldn't see much skin, only bloody pieces of flesh. It looked like someone skinned him alive.

"Biofoam, I need biofoam now." One medic said

The medics then began from the head and down towards the chest. The filled his wound with the regenerative/anti-infection/wound-sealing-biofoam. They had used a lot of biofoam when they where done.

"I need one bag of medical blood" The medic said again.

The blood was to compensating for all blood he lost from his wounds. They had him connected to a Health Stat Monitor (HSM) monitoring his pulse, blood pressure and other vital signs.

"His pulse is very weak and irregular, don't know if he will make it"

Mendez climbed to the passenger seat besides the driver.

"How's the kid" the driver asked.

"Bad, we need to get him to a real hospital fast"

"We will arrive at the military base in about 50 minutes." The driver said and then shifted to a higher gear and then began to increase the speed.

"We are losing him" one of the medics said as he ran over to the boy.

As the medic said those words all hell broke lose in the cabin. The three medics began to give him drugs to stimulate his heart.

"Vitals are dropping, get me the electric pads FAST"

One of the medics ran over to one of metal containers and opened it and pulled out a small generator and two metal disks attached with a cable. He then placed the generator next to the boy.

"No pulse, CLEAR"

The medic placed one of the disks over the heart and the other under his left armpit. There was a loud _Thounk_ as the electricity went right into the boy. The HSM piped once and then went dead again.

"CLEAR"

The HSM went up and then flat lined again.

"CLEAR"

The same effect again.

"CLEAR"

Nothing.

After five minutes and no response from the boy.

"He is dead, we lost him. There is nothing we can do" Mendez said to the medic who sighed and shock his head affirmative.

Mendez walked over to the boy and looked down on him, ice-blue eyes stared back at him, devoid of any form of life, eyes that pierced to his soul, eyes that displayed pain, fatigue and most of all determination. _The eyes of a soldier_ he thought and with one motion closed the boys' eyes. He had done that, closed the eyes of the dead, more times than he could or wanted too count, but closing the eyes of this boy really shock him to the core.

"Time of death, 18.45" One of the medics said in a low voice.

_Twenty minutes away from the base, twenty minutes_ Mendez thought.

Mendez then took a blanket and covered the face and body of the dead boy.

John stood in a line, waiting. Waiting for what, he didn't know, they hadn't told them. He looked behind him, maybe sixty or seventy other children stood there, also waiting for their turn. He looked forward, three more people before him. There was a nurse standing before the door to the next room.

"Name" the nurse asked.

"Jack" the boy replied.

The nurse then wrote the name Jack on the small nametag where the number 114 also was shown.

A green light over the door flashed and then the door opened. The boy Jack entered and the door closed.

"Name" " the nurse asked again.

"Johanna" the girl replied.

A nametag with her name and the number 115, a green flash, the door opened.

"Name"

"Lisa"

Nametag, 116, green flash, open door.

John swallowed and then steeped forward. He looked up at the nurse

"Na…"

"Sorry, coming through"

John looked back and saw three men coming down the corridor, two carrying a stretcher and the third was walking and making a way for the two men carrying the stretcher. The man walked up to the nurse.

"Name, Rank, and reason for visit"

"Mendez, Master Chief…" the man then looked at the children and then said

"We are going to deliver that" He said and pointed towards the stretcher covered by a grey military blanket."

The nurse nodded and then opened the door. The three men walked in through the door and then it closed.

Inside Mendez saw two persons, the first was a man in his later seventies and the other person he recognised, it was Catherine Halsey.

She turned towards him.

"Chief Mendez, good to see you" she said.

"Good evening ma´am"

"What can I do for you?"

His face was grim as he turned towards the stretcher and pointed at it. She looked at the stretcher and then both she and the old man walked over to it.

"It isn't a pretty sight" One of the medics said.

Dr. Halsey removed the blanket and looked down at the pale face of an Asian boy, maybe five or six years old.

"What happened?" She asked and looked down and saw the cuts and scratches covering the boys' chest and arms.

"We found him on the road on our way here, he only had a thin shirt and pants on. I sent away a team of Marines to follow the boys' tracks back, he couldn't have walked far in this weather. The Marines followed the tracks for over five kilometres and they ended at a river where the boy must have come ashore."

"Five kilometres? With these wounds and wet clothes in this weather? He wouldn't have survived fifteen minutes."

"I know, this boy must have been really stubborn to make it that far"

"You don't understand, with these wounds he would have bled to death in less then fifteen minutes"

"Well the marines used GPS an it told them it was five kilometres."

"And the cold, nobody can survive in wet clothes for more then fifteen- twenty minutes."

"Well he walked five kilometres with these wounds and these clothes, that's how we found him. We tried to treat him but we didn't have the right gear to treat heavy wounds"

"Wait… you mean he was alive when you found him?"

"Yes, he died about thirty minutes ago"

"Impossible" She muttered to herself.

"Put him in the scan so we could se who he is" The older man said

The medics did as they where told and placed the body into a tube like scan, and then they left the room.

"Begin the scan for a PIC (Personal Identification Chip)"

Catherine began to type in commands on the scans keyboard. Then a sensor swept from the top to the bottom.

_NO PIC detected _The robotic voice said as it finished the scan.

"What? No PIC? I thought every UNSC citizen got one at birth" And it was the truth, every person got the chip implanted at birth so police or medical personnel quickly cold determine who you are.

"Make a DNA scan"

_No match found_ The computer replied.

That was impossible, even if the boy was born outside of UNSC territory and without a PIC a DNA match was always found. In the beginning of colonisation all colonist had to leave DNA-sample. If the boy wasn't charted on the DNA-map then at least his ancestors should be. That he wasn't in the register meant that that he didn't have any family. This boy shouldn't exist.

Dr. Halsey began to type in the command to do a full medical scan.

_Scanning_

_Scan complete_

She then put up the information on the main screen so that everyone could see it.

_Status: Dead_

_Sex: Male_

_Subjects' age: 5 years_

_Height: 4, 2 feet_

_Weight: 21 kilo_

_Cause of death: Massive blood-loss caused by major damage to the chest, shoulders, upper arms, and back, together with extreme decrease of body temperature._

_Superficial Body analysis: Legs and abdomen has sustained minor damage. Chest has received lethal damage. Arms have received major damage. Head has sustained minor damage. Back has sustained lethal damage _ __

_Internal Body analysis: Legs and abdomen, no damage. Chest has sustained minor damage. Arms, no damage. Head, no damage. Back has sustained minor damage._

_No damage to internal organs. The necrosis on subjects' body hasn't begun yet. _

_Neurological activity: Scanners indicate weak neurological activity. No necrosis._

_DNA-scan complete._

_DNA compatible with SPARTAN-II to 97, 9 percent._

She looked at the screen then did another DNA-scan and then another. These numbers where correct. She then turned to the Chief.

"Would you please leave, Chief Mendez"

"Yes ma´am "He gave her a crisp salute and then left the room.

She looked at Mendez as he left and then turned towards Izack.

"97, 7 match is incredible, it's the highest number yet"

"Yes I know… Do you think we should try it? He is dead so it shouldn't be any problem with the first part of stage one."

"Yes, he would die of the wounds if we would try regenerate him as he is"

"The first stage would give him the regenerative abilities he needs to survive."

"Do you think he would fit? Does he have the guts and will to be a Spartan?"

"He walked five kilometres with these wounds in wet clothes in a blizzard, he must be strong enough"

"This wouldn't work if he didn't have any neurological activity."

"Yes, I know. He is the perfect candidate."

"Give him the shot and let's put him in the regeneration-tank."

She then proceeded to write on a stick-it note and then placed it on the tank.

Name: unknown

Spartan-117

**Authors Notes**

Okay, this chapter became a little longer then expected, so the Spartan training isn't in this chapter. Sorry.

Ok, i know that im not following the Halo story, that dates, events and characters are all wrong. Thats because im only following the story losly. Blame writers freedom. So on with the questions.

Now this is a question i have waited for and I thought it would come a lot earlier.

**Q**: So why couldn't the forerunner stop the flood?

**A**: The forerunner had godlike powers, yes. Immortality, yes. Science billions of years more advanced then our own, yes. But they weren't perfect. They didn't suspect that their own children would turn against them.

Another fact was that the forerunner didn't have any real kind of military or weapons that could fight the flood. The reason was that they didn't need it they where, besides from their children, the only beings in the universe, so who where their too fight?

**Q**: And why didn't they use their science to cure themselves from the flood virus?

**A: **Simple, they didn't have the time. They lived for million of years, to them one year and one thousand years wasn't so much different. Like a second and minute to us. The flood outbreak was perhaps ten-twenty years from beginning to the end. And they just wasn't fast enough to develop a cure, or launch an effective counter-offensiv.

For example, the building of the first gateways was in the theoretical stage for a couple of hundred MILLION years. That was the reason the had so advanced technologi, they had the time to modify it, and trying to find a cure in less then 20 years put them in a fight against the clock. Another reason is that the flood was a virus based on their own DNA, making it impossible for their own immune systems to fight it, and making ki usage completely useless.

The forerunner built the Halo as a last solution to stop the flood.

The cure was finished a little after the last Halo was completed, and by this time only a few worlds was left. The flood ignored those worlds, because the only life was some basic bacteria. The forerunner gave the orders to fire the halos to stop the flood once and for all.

**Q**: How is it that they could build the Halos in a shorter amount of time than it took to find a cure?

**A**: To put it simple, the Halo is a really, REALLY big gun, with a HUGE blast-radius, and quite easy to build. Its principle is easy, generate huge amounts of energy and let it lose all at once, killing every living thing in a huge radius around the weapon.

The search for a cure on the other hand was making the smartest of the forerunner screaming in pure irritation. The virus was always changing, and the vaccine against the flood virus must be able to resist the new forms as they turned up, making it harder for the forerunner to make it.

Any questions? Just ask them and i will answer.

Review please

Big thanks to Madrikor for pre-reading this.


	6. Boot Camp

**Disclaimer: **Every series belong to respective owners.

**The Halo of the Hero**

** Chapter 6 Boot Camp**

"Wake up trainee"

Ranma groggily opened his eyes, the sharp rays of the morning sun through the opened door made him close them again. He was dimly aware that this wasn't the simple blanket that he usually slept on, and that he wasn't alone in the room. He slowly turned to his side and saw the rows of simple military bunks lined after the wall.

A shock jolted him from his bare feet and to the base of his spine, and with a yell of surprise he fell out of his bunk and onto the cold floor.

"I said get up, now move it" A tall man in combat fatigues said as he flicked a silver baton that sparked towards Ranma.

His martial arts training kicked in and he swatted the baton away and countered with a fast punch to the mans stomach.

The man groaned and Ranma then proceeded to sweep away the mans legs with a kick. A swift kick to the mans head knocked him unconscious.

The man hit the floor with a loud bang, which caught the attention of the other instructors. They began to move towards Ranma and he shifted into a defensive stance. He was maybe able to take on one or two of them, but a dozen, they would defeat him by shear numbers. He slowly backed into the wall looking around after an escape route.

By now all the other children had waked up, and all eyes where focused on him.

The men began to slowly move towards him.

"Stand down men" A loud voice full of authority said.

He shifted his gaze towards the voice and saw a man in his late thirties-early forties walking towards them. He took one look at the fallen man and then focused his eyes on the boy. Ranma saw the combat fatigues and the marks on his shoulder that identified him as an officer.

The man then spoke.

"Showers are down the hall. You will all wash and the return to get dressed. On the double"

He then returned his gaze towards Ranma. Ranma began to walk towards the shower as he felt Mendez tap him between the shoulders with the baton. Ranma fell to the floor gasping.

"No slaking and I mean it"

He moved. He couldn't breathe, but moved anyway, clutching his chest. He managed small ragged gasps when he came to the showers. He washed and then ran back to his bunk where   he got into underwear and a pair of thick grey socks. He looked around for additional clothing.

"Your garments are in the footlockers." Mendez said as he saw the confusion on the children's faces.

He opened his trunks and pulled on a white t-shirt and grey combat fatigues. On the right arm the name Ranma-117 was stencilled with black colour. At the side of his locker was a pair of black combat boots which, when he tried them on, fitted perfectly.

Ranma looked around at the interior of the barrack. Everywhere he saw the scared and anxious faces of the other children.

He thought back to when he had first woke up after the forest incident, there was a lady who had asked after his name.

He had answered and then she said that he couldn't go home, that he was needed as a soldier, that he would need to protect people. Too that he only nodded, he didn't have to see Genma anymore so he wasn't angry not being able to go home. He then fell asleep and had woken up here.

"Outside trainees, triple time" Mendez said as he pointed to the door.

Ranma and the others stamped out, no one saying a word. Outside it was cold, the snow on the ground had been removed, showing the black asphalt underneath. Everyone was standing tightly together, finding comfort in each others presence.

"I want ten rows, nineteen in every row, NOW" Mendez barked again.

They looked around uncertain, confused and afraid. No one dared to move, afraid of leaving the little protection they had. Ranma looked around. No one moved. Ranma then remembering the stun baton from earlier, elbowed some of the children to carefully to gain their attention. A couple of other children leaned over so they could carefully whisper to each other.

"What do you want?" A tall boy with Samuel-034 stencilled on his shirt asked.

"Let's do as he says, or they will probably use the stun-batons again."

"But… how?" A boy with the name John-118 stencilled on his shirt asked.

"Just grab two and drag them with you" Ranma said.

"Okay" The others said in unison. He looked at their nametags Kelly-087, Grace-093, Jack-114 and Fahjad-072. _Seven all in all, not much but it will have to do._

 He looked back at Mendez, they could see as he got more irritated by the second. Ranma gulped and looked back at them, they where looking at him to too take the first step. He took a deep breath and then took the wrists of the two nearest children and then began to drag them forward.

He was about to issue the orders to the trainers to use the stun batons, but then he saw as a couple of children began to move forwards. The first too walk forward was the child he had stunned a while back, but now that he was out in the light he saw that it was the dead child he had brought to Dr. Halsey.

As he left the bunch of children he left go of their wrists, but he was surprised as they continued to follow him. The children he talked to then followed up and walked up and stood to the left of him in a single straight row. He looked back, all the others then slowly began to move and placed themselves in the ten rows Mendez had ordered.

"I am Chief petty officer Mendez" he said as he stood before the children. "And these are your trainers" He said and pointed to the men behind him.

"Do you understand" He asked.

"Yes" came the mumbled reply from the children.

"I didn't hear you"

"YES" They said again, this time yelling.

"Good, now we will do jumping jacks, one hundred. Ready, BEGIN"

The officer began the exercise, and Ranma followed up.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, ONE HUNDRED."  He yelled.

Ranma, because of his martial arts training, hadn't even broken a sweet. He looked around, most children where lying on the ground panting, trying to regain their breath.

"Thirty second pause, and then 100 sit-ups and the first that quits gets to do 200."

Then came push-ups, then leg lifts, and so it continued for over an hour.

"Ten minutes pause" Mendez barked out.

Ranma had by this time broken out in a light sweat, and was a little out of breath. All the children where lying on the ground, some had thrown up but were still forced to continue. He was just sitting down, resting. This training methods where noting compared to Genmas, so he wasn't complaining.

"Okay, now we will have a short jog to your school."

The children was barely able to get on their feet, they where totally exhausted. The short jog turned out to be 3 miles.

"Now get inside the school trainees"

All children groaned, first inhuman training methods, and now of all things school. This wasn't their day.

"Any one who wants skip it can continue the training" This was all that was needed to get them inside the building.

**Three weeks of training**

They had currently finished today's lessons and were slowly jogging behind Chief Mendez. He stopped at the outskirts of the military camp.

"Today's game will be oddball, every time a teams brings the ball to their cage they score a point, the last team to score a point loses. The ball is hidden on the field somewhere, so you will have to find it. The losing team will have to run an additional three laps around the camp and doesn't get any food this evening"

They looked around, the arena was a big field with pits and trenches, some filled with water. The entire field was filled with small hills and mounds that decreased the line of sight. Scattered here and there where some buildings, and stairs which led down to an underground tunnel network.

"Get to your bases and don't start before I ring the bell" Mendez said.

 They split up into ten groups, and then began to move towards their bases which Mendez had pointed out from the hill overlooking the entire field. The groups began to jog down the hill and then headed in different directions. They got to their base, a big ramp made of concrete and at the top a simple metal basket.

"So how should we do this" John-118 asked.

"Don't know, what do you think, Kelly?" Sam-034 redirected the question towards her.

"Run fast and take it?" She asked.

Ranma looked around, they where nineteen all in all.

"I have an idea" He said all heads turned towards him.

"Go on" Fahjad-072 said.

"We will split up in five groups, and then every group looks at a different place.

"Good idea, lets do it" Anton-162 said.

"But if you find it, don't scream it out or everyone will try and take it" Li-144 said.

"Okay" Everyone said in unison.

"Kelly, John and Sam we are a team, Ok?" Ranma asked. 

The three nodded, and Ranma looked around seeing that the others already had split up.

"Where do you think he placed it?" Kelly-084 asked.

"No idea" John-118 replied.

"Where should we look?" Sam-034 asked.

"In the basements" Ranma said.

"Kay" came the answer.

In the distance they heard the ringing of a bell.

"GO" They yelled.

Ranma, Kelly, Sam and John took of towards the path they first came from. Ranma was first closely followed by Kelly. He looked around, the hills on either side of him was so steep they where impassable and about 10-15 metres high. John and Sam were 40 or 50 metres after. After at three hundred meter run which Ranma and Kelly both made in 40 flat, they stopped at a block of concrete with a rusty metal hatch.

 They looked around at the surrounding area for any sign of the other teams, and after waiting ten seconds John and Sam where able to catch up.

"Huff huff, you have to wait for us" Sam-034 said.

Ranma and Kelly just nodded as they together opened the heavy metal hatch.

"So, Chief Mendez how are the children doing?" Dr Halsey asked as she stepped out of the warthog.

"Good" Was all he said.

They stood on the hill overlooking the field. The children looked like ants as they ran around on field. Mendez shifted his look from the field towards Dr Halsey. He looked uncertain, something that the people that had met him would have said was impossible.

"May I ask you question, Dr Halsey?"

"Go ahead"

"What did you do to subject 117?"

"What do you mean" She asked, sounding bored, she was still looking down towards the field.

"He was dead, now he is alive" Mendez replied a little irritated.

She shifted her gaze from the field to Chief Mendez.

"More or less the same thing we did to all the other children"

"Which was?" He asked again.

"It was the first part of stage one in the SPARTAN-II project. We gave each child an injection of a special drug which slightly increase muscle mass, metabolism and healing factors. Totally harmless to the children due to some genetic traits, lethal to anyone else."

"So?" Mendez asked confused. Of course he had heard what this project was all about, but he didn't know everything.

"With the increased healing we where able to successfully regenerate him"

Mendez only nodded.

"I will go first" Ranma said as he jumped down through the hole.

He looked around. The tunnels was of old concrete, their was bits and pieces from the roof lying around, and there was big cracks in the walls.  There was about a feet of water on the floor, completely socking his boots. He shuddered as the ice-cold water made contact with his skin.

"Watch it, the floor is full with water" He said to the others outside. He looked back and forth trying to decide which way to go.

He heard a _splosh, splosh, splosh _as the three others jumped down.

The field they where on was huge, 8 kilometres long and 11 kilometres wide, and the entire thing was undermined with tunnels, and somewhere they had to find a single small ball.

They began to move towards the middle of the field, in hope of finding a clue. After about fifty metres I became to dark to see anything besides the small glimmer of light in the dark water. He took the small flashlight that hung from his belt and clicked it on. After 5 minutes of walking they came to a place where the tunnel split into 6 different ways.

"Which way?" John asked.

Ranma carefully light the paths on at a time. He looked back at them and saw that they looked to him for an answer.

"Right, lets go" He said

They continued forward, for how long he didn't know. They passed through numerous different forks, sometimes they led to a dead end, sometimes not.

"Stop, I hear something" Sam said.

All stopped and listen. At first they didn't hear anything, but after awhile the heard small, almost nonexistent sounds. They listened some more, but couldn't determine what it was. Ranma turned the flashlight towards the way they had come. Nothing. He then ran as fast as he could back the way they came, and they followed. They walked through the right a three way fork. They could hear it more clearly now, it was most defiantly voices.

He walked to the middle tunnel, stopped and listened. Nothing. He walked back and then went to the left tunnel. He let the light of the flashlight illuminate the water, walls and roof. He walked in. _Yes the voices where coming from this tunnel._  He thought as he walked back.

"The voices are coming from down there" Ranma said and pointed to the tunnel.

"And?" Sam-034 asked

"Lets go take a look, but be quiet" He said and they nodded in return.

They began to slowly move down the tunnel, sometimes stopping to listen to the voices, but they where still to far away to hear what they said. After fifty meters they could determine that the voices were very exited.

"I am going to turn of the flashlight, so don't panic" He said in a low whisper.

He turned the light of, but couldn't see a thing, he waited for his eyes to adjust. After awhile he could see some light coming from the tunnel ahead. He turned around and could make out the shapes of the others behind him. He slowly, in a half crouch, began to make his way towards the light, the others following close behind.

The tunnel ended in a huge circular room, fifty metres across. There where a lot of tunnel exists, maybe 20-30 that lined the wall of the room. In the middle their was a little wood raft and on it a small green ball. The oddball. Across the room there was a group of children, talking fast to each other. The flashlight the other children had was the only source of light in the entire room. The others hadn't spotted them yet, so he quickly dragged them behind a rubble of debris.

"Why haven't they taken the ball?" John-118 asked.

"The water, its deeper in the middle then it is here" Kelly-087 answered.

"How do you know" Sam-034 asked.

"Look, one of them has a stick and uses it to test the deep, and he can't reach the bottom." She replied.

They all looked from their hiding place and at the place she pointed. The stick was at least six feet and the entire thing disappeared under the surface.

"We can't lose today again, it would be the tenth time" John-118 said.

"But how are we going to get the ball" Kelly-087 asked.

He looked up from the rubble again. A plan formed in his head.

"I have an idea, but it's a bit risky." He said.

"Let's hear it" Sam-034 said.

"Just one question, can any of you swim?"

"No"

"Nope"

"Not me"

He sighed, and then looked up.

"Okay, then I will have to do it" He said

"Do what?"

"Swim and get the ball" Ranma replied.

"The water is freezing and the others will see and chase you, are you sure?" Kelly-087 asked in a worried tone.

"Someone has to do it, and I am the only one who can swim" He said.

She only nodded.

"But what should we do?" Sam-034 asked.

"You and John will wait here, Kelly will wait a bit down the tunnel. When I take the ball, they will defiantly see me and chase me. I will swim back here and give you the ball. Do you understand?"

"Yes" Both Sam and John answered.

"But why do I have to wait in the tunnel." Kelly complained.

"Because you are the fastest, John and Sam are going to run to you and give you the ball where the others won't see you. You then will run to our base with the ball and score a point."

"Okay" Kelly said.

"But you will have to be quiet, don't let them see you or the ball, and don't use a flashlight before you are sure there is no one near you"

"But what will we do then?" John asked.

"They will think that you still got the ball. Take another tunnel then Kelly and pretend like you still got it and make sure that they follow you. That will give Kelly enough time to score. I will stay here and try to slow them down. "

"Okay" They replied.

He looked over the pile of debris. The others where still arguing on how to get the ball. He took of all his clothes except his boxers and then took his flashlight and put it between his teeth. He then covered his clothes with some of the debris, so no one would take them and throw them in the water for revenge.

 He stalked towards the deeper part of the water, the water felling even colder without his boots and socks. He felt the floor end abruptly, he then tried to feel the bottom with one of his feet. No bottom. He braced himself for the cold as he silently slid into the water. The water felt like a thousand knives on his body.

He took a deep breath and then swam underneath the surface of the water. He surfaced five feet from the raft and swam towards it, reached out and grabbed the ball. He heard the shouts of the others but didn't care. Another deep breath and he began to swim back. He reached the edge and then threw the ball to Sam who caught it.

"RUN" He yelled.

John and Sam then took of with incredible speed. He looked around, the other children where running towards him. He took up position at the tunnel entrance, taking an aggressive stance. The first kid that tried to pass was pushed into a wall, the second and third saw this and tried to punch and kick him.

He leaned to the left and the punch missed, he then blocked the incoming kick and countered with on of his own. The kid fell backwards into the arms of three others. He then sidestepped and let the kid that had tried to sneak up on him fly by. Another kid picked up a piece of wood and wielded it like a club.

He tried to hit him on the head with it but he kicked it out of the kids hands and then punched him in the gut. He looked around, he had stopped four. The others seeing this picked up stones and began to throw it after him. Some of those he was able to deflect or dodge but most hit home. 

_This is enough time to let them get away_ He thought as he made a dash and dived into the water again. He held his breath as long as he could manage and then resurfaced. The children where gone but he could see the lights of their flashlight disappear down the tunnel. He swam back to the edge, and then walked over and picked his flashlight he had dropped in the fight.

He quickly got dressed and then left, walking alone through the deserted tunnels.

**3 Years of training.**  

He looked out of the back of the drop-ship then back at his squad, thirty-eight including him.  He looked out again, the other drop-ships where flying closely behind, in a lose arrow formation. They where flying over the Erandus mountain chain, and he could see the snow covered peaks, even though it was the middle of the summer. Chief Mendez walked out of the cockpit and all the trainees stood and snapped a crisp salute.

"At ease, and sit down" He said.

They did as he told him.

"Today's mission will be simple for a change. You will be put down and then have to precede the extraction point where you will be picked up. The extraction point are marked on your maps"

Everybody just nodded.

"Oh, and the last team will have to walk back, and it's a long walk"

Ranma just sat there in deep thought. _So one squad is left behind, but there's gotta be away for everybody to come back._

His mind drifted away as he thought about what had happened to him. Dr Halsey had said that he died but that she was able to regenerate him. He also found out that he wasn't in Japan or, for that fact on earth anymore. He was told the history of mankind's last five-hundred years, the colonisations of different worlds, the war against the Covenant, and their slaughter of billion of people.

He looked at his squad again, _No, my family, _he corrected himself. For the first time in his life he had friends and family that would look out for him, not like Genma and his stupid ideas.

He knew that he had changed, he learned to use weapons, and learned first aid and the lessons with Deja the AI. She had taught him everything ranging from math to advanced physics.

He wasn't the only one who had changed, the other children put even more effort behind their training to catch up with Ranma. Ranma was from the beginning the fastest, strongest and most skilled fighter, but the others where slowly catching up. Every time they thought they had catched up, Ranma would get a little stronger, or a little faster, or a little smarter, making the others redouble their efforts. Because of this they improved by leaps and bonds.  

Kelly for example was now faster, and Sam was now stronger but only by a very small margin. Everyone was determined to get better and Chief Mendez seeing this increased their training to impossible standards, well impossible to everyone besides the Spartans.

"Touch down in thirty seconds" Came the pilot's voice over the speakers.

They jumped down from the drop-ship that hovered three metres up in the air. He quickly scanned the area for potential hostiles found none and then turned to his squad.

"Spread out, take cover in those trees, now" They all did as he said and then disappeared into the shadows.

He didn't want Mendez to see them from the drop-ship, who knows, he maybe had a rifle loaded with stun-rounds, just waiting for an easy target.

They four other drop-ships landed and unloaded their batch of children. The other squad leaders gave the same orders as he did, and everyone disappeared into the forest.

He gave a wave with his hand, signalling the others to come to him. The four other leaders made a mad dash towards his position. They stopped and sat in a half circle in front of Ranma.

"What is it 117" Kim-166 asked.

"Something isn't right about this mission" he replied.

"What do you mean?" Azad-131 asked.

He took of his backpack, opened it and pulled out a map. He then laid the map on the ground, and pointed to a location. It was at the beginning of a huge valley, surrounded by mountains on three sides.

"We are here, and the extraction point is here" He said. He then pointed to the opposite end of the valley."

"And?" Janic-174 said.

"Look it's about 50 miles, mostly forest and on some places rock and hills" Jim-126 said

"It's too easy" Azad said finally understanding.

"Yes, Chief Mendez training always has a twist to it, like the stun-mines at the obstacle-course, or the snipers with paint pellet guns during parade drills. A 50 mile walk trough the forest is to easy:  Come on, we run 5 miles every morning and evening so it has to be more to this then the walk."

"I heard the Marines back at camp where going on some kind of training exercise up in the mountains" Janic-174 said.

"Or in other words, Catch the Spartans" Kim-166 said.

He looked around at the others.

"We will have to work together for this one, can't run over each other by accident."

They only nodded.

"But how about the group left behind" Janic-174 asked.

"We will have to make sure that no one is left behind" Ranma said simple.

They nodded again.

"We need to send out scouts so we don't run into any traps" Ranma said as he looked at the map.

"Okay, how many?" Kim-166 asked.

"At least four" Azad-131 said.

"From every group" Ranma added.

"Now which way are we going to take?" Kim-166 said and pointed at the map.

He looked down and the map. In the middle of the valley there was a river that they needed to cross, and there was only one marked crossing point.

"They will probably put people to guard this point" Ranma said and pointed at the river.

"And they will probably believe we will put on a straight course from here to there" Azad-131 said.

"We will have to avoid that area then, lets take this path" he said as he traced a path with his finger.

"That's a detour of about 10 miles, but we shouldn't encounter any marines." Janic-166 said.

They would have to walk from the west side of the valley to the east side. Then they would have to move north to get to the extraction point.

They reason why he had chosen that path was that the map showed that the east side had a thick forest while the east side only had some scattered clusters of trees. They would give them a perfect cover from any marines on the ground and any ships in the air. If they had luck the marines wouldn't even know they had been there.

"We will have to swim over the river, but I rather get my feet wet than have to fight with the marines." Azad said as looked over the chosen path.

They all nodded.

"Chose four scouts from your groups and send them out, we will have to hurry"

"Ok" was the mumbled reply.

"Kelly, Linda, James, Grace, come here" Ranma said as he walked over to his squads position.

They walked up to him.

"What is it" Linda asked.

"I want you to scout out the area as we move, if you see any sign of marines, don't let them see you and get back and report ASAP. We are working together with the others, and they will also send out scouts" He said.

They disappeared into the forest like ghosts. He walked over to where the others had gathered.

"Ok let's get going" Azad said as he walked over to him.

"Lose formation, but in sight distance, no talk" Ranma said as they began to jog into the forest.

He looked around, they where spread out over a hundred meters or so.

They had been running for a couple of hours. They had about two or three miles left to the river. He looked around, the others after three years of hard training, wasn't even breathing hard or had even broken a sweat. They looked as fresh as when they began. Kelly was running towards him at full speed. She walked up to him.

"We found where the marines have their camp." She said.

"Wait here" he said as he ran up to the other squad leaders.

"The scouts found the marines," He said and pointed at Kelly.

"Twenty minutes pause" Azad said.

Everyone stopped. The squad leaders them followed Ranma back to where Kelly was standing.

"Show us the way" Ranma said.

They took of and ran about a kilometre to a hill. Kelly then lay down on her belly and crawled through the tall grass up to the top. The others followed suit and son everyone was at the top seeing for kilometres. Kelly pointed towards a shimmering band of silver, the river. He took out his binoculars      

They where at least three or four hundred with the size of that camp. He could see two rows of warthogs ten in every row. Two scorpion main battle tanks, one at each side of the river guarding the crossing point. A group of marines where jogging slowly in and he could see a group doing push ups as a sergeant was walking and yelling at them.

They where to far away for him to hear it, but he saw the lips of the sergeant move, and his face was filled with anger. They wouldn't be able to cross here.

"Are they patrolling the river?" Ranma asked.

"The patrols stops five hundred meters from camp." She said.

"Good, then let's hurry, the longer it takes to cross the river the bigger the chance they detect us."

They moved back to their respective squads and made a fast run for the river. When they arrived they found out why the marines didn't bother to patrol the river.

The river was rushing at incredible speed, if they tried to cross they would be swept away.

"What now?" Janic asked.

"We will have to cross. Kelly, Linda."

The persons in question where walking towards them.

"Is there a place where the water is calm?" Ranma asked.

"Not upstream" Kelly said.

 "And not downstream either." Linda said.

He looked around, trying to come up with an idea.

"I will swim over with a rope attached to my belt, and then you can pull me out if something happens to me. When I am on the other side I will tie it around a tree and you will be able to get everyone over."

They nodded in response.

He heard the voices of marines yelling to each other. They where close, maybe two-hundred meters, and closing in fast. They wouldn't be able to hide 150 children in such a short notice. They had about 5 miles left to the extraction point and if they ran they should make it in less then 40 minutes.  

"FOUND THEM!" He heard a marine yelling.

"RUN" he heard the other leaders yell.

They took of at incredible speeds. He jumped over a rock, took of in a sprint and dove under a fallen tree. They began running through a canyon running at full speed which was a full 25 miles/hour. Hr turned around, he had been in the back as a rear guard so he was one of the last. The marines where still following them. He picked up a stone felt the weight of it.

_Perfect_ he thought and then took aim and threw it at the first marine he saw. The stone sailed through the air and hit the man right in the head. He fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes.

He turned and began to run after the others.

He then heard the sound of an assault rifle fire and the bullets impacting on the rock around him. Still running he picked up another stone, looked back, and threw it as hard as he could. The stone hit home, making the marine hit the forest ground unconscious.

_They where only two? Must have been scouts. _ He thought as he continued running towards the others, catching up after a few moments.

_Two miles left, then we can go back home. _

**Training 6 years**

It was in the middle of the night, the only thing seen was the stars and their reflection on the ocean. They where currently sitting in a small inflatable boat, silently rowing towards the shore. Most was clothed in black wetsuits, armed with MAB2 rifles loaded with 7,62 mm rounds. His face was covered with black paint, and he was currently checking his diving gear and scuba tanks. He saw the two other boats change there course making their way towards the shore.

Their mission was to infiltrate a large military base and capture and hold important strategic locations. Among the structures on the island was a radar and heavy AA installations in which made aerial insertion impossible. The island was surrounded by cliffs and the only way in was blocked by well defended camp. Instead of launching a full attack on the camp they would infiltrate it then moving in to the heart of the island and destroy the radar which would render the AA-guns useless.

When that was done they would leave the island and then call in reinforcements. Ranmas squad would do stand for the infiltration and pyrotechnics. They would split up in three teams, two teams would land on the shore and would move through the jungle and take position outside the camp.

The last team would consist of frogmen which would infiltrate the base from the water and then shut down the power to the automatic defences without letting anyone notice. The two other teams would then cut a hole in the electric fences and walk trough the line of 30mm auto-cannons.    

"This is red team, we just came ashore, proceeding to designated coordinates" He heard Johns voice over the radio.

"This is green team, made it to shore, moving out" he heard Fahjads voice a second later.

"Affirmative Red-leader, Green-leader, Blue-leader out" He said in his microphone.

He looked towards the island, he could see some lights appear as they moved around a cape. He estimated it to five-maybe six hundred meters. 

"Once you have dropped of us, move to green-teams boat."

The only two not dressed in wetsuits nodded.

"Everyone got their gear?" He asked.

"Good to go" was the reply.

He put on his Cyclops, opened the tubes and then put the nozzle in his mouth and took a deep breath. Everything was working as it should.

He put up five fingers in the air indicating that would dive into the water in five seconds.

He got thumbs up in reply.

He was currently sitting on the on the edge of the boat and then leaned backwards falling into the water. They went down to fifteen feet and began to swim towards the shore. To their luck the water was crystal-clear showing them the lights of the base clearly, giving them a point to navigate after.

The entrance to the harbour and inner parts of the compound was blocked by an underwater gate with steel bars. They couldn't surface here, they would be detected and killed by the 30mm auto-cannons. He pointed towards Sam who nodded in understanding. He swam forward and placed special demolition charge that generated an immense heat instead of exploding, on two of the bars. He swam away quickly.  There was a small flash and two bars slowly fell to the bottom. He made thumbs-up.

The eight man team slowly made their way towards the end of the harbour. They resurfaced under the pier.

"The power generator is located in a concrete building approximately a hundred meters from here. Remember, we will only cut the power to the defences, or else they will know that we are here."

He slowly climbed the ladder, and then peeked over the edge to make sure it was clear.  He climbed up on the pier and then slinked into the shadow of a building, closely followed by the others.  They moved slowly, avoiding the lights of the buildings being like living shadows as they made their way towards the generator.  It would have been easier to detect a ghosts shadow then the eight Spartans.

 The door to the generator was locked, so he pulled out a lock pick from a small pocket on his leg. It took him less then fifteen seconds to open the lock, and he carefully opened the door. Empty. He slinked in the room closely followed by the others. Grace walked over to a control panel and began to hack the power control computer, trying to disable the defences.

"How long?" Ranma asked.

"Give me five, and I will be done" She replied.

He looked around the room, apart from the generator and computer it was empty. .Everyone stopped what they where doing and turned towards the door. They could clearly hear the boots of soldiers as they draw nearer towards the building. He looked around for a place to hide but couldn't find any form of cover.

The two marines opened the door to the generator room, surprised that it was open. They swept their flashlights over the walls and floor of the room, but finding nothing continued their patrol.

Ranma and the others saw as the marines left, and the jumped down from their hiding place. They had jumped up and grabbed the steel beams on the roof when the marines had been outside the door.

Grace walked back to the computer, typed in some commands and then turned towards them.

"Power to security systems offline" She said

He nodded and then talked into his headset.

"It's green to go, power offline" 

"Affirmative, Green-leader out"

"Understood, Red-leader out"

They disappeared into the darkness, without leaving a trace of ever been there.

The entire base was calm except the occasional guard on patrol.  They made it to the rendezvous point, stopped and waited for the two other teams.

About thirty seconds later they arrived.

The way into the inner parts of the island was blocked by a thirty feet concrete wall and a gate made of titanium-A battle plate. Two grappling hooks covered with cloth to avoid sound flew from the ground and landed on the top of the wall.

Ranma carefully pulled it in until it got stuck. He pulled on it hard to see if it would hold and then climbed up the wall fast. He brought up his rifle and scanned the area, making sure that it wasn't any hostiles in the area. Nothing.

They ran through the jungle, fifty metres to the left he could see green-team and to his right red-team. They could see the lights through the trees. He stopped and ordered his team to hide.

He crawled forward and pulled out a par of binoculars.   

The radar station was located in the middle of a well guarded camp. He could see that this camp was well guarded, marines patrolled the perimeter of the camp, and at every corner there was a sentry, making a stealthy approach almost impossible.

The first base they could infiltrate, but in this camp a fire fight was impossible to avoid.

_Well at least we have the moment of surprise on our side._ He thought.

"Red-team?" he said into his microphone.

"I hear you" he heard Johns voice say.

"Make an diversionary attack an the east side of the base"

"Affirmative" Came the reply.

"Green-team?"

"Here" Came Fahjads voice.

"Lay down covering fire for Red-team. When Red-team has entered the compound, engage"

"Yes sir"

"Snipers, clear a path for me and my team"

He looked through his binoculars again. He could count to about thirty marines patrolling around the camp, and fifty stationary guards and the marines currently sleeping inside the barracks.

"Go Red team" He saw as Red-team ran towards the camp at full speed, their MAB2 rifles with silencer spiting rounds into the marines, every round finding their goal, dropping marines fast.

The marines must have been really surprised, because it took over a minute before he heard the sounds from the marines MAB5 assault rifles fire.

He waited an additional minute before standing up and taking of towards the west side.

Most of the guards had run towards the sound of the diversionary attack, leaving only a small group of marines to guard the rest of the base.

He was moving towards the first line of defence, seeing two marines taking aim to shoot. He wasn't even able to bring up his rifle before the marines hit the dirt, hit by two sniper rounds.

He turned a corner and ran into a group of marines, the marine right in front of him hit the dirt after a three round burst to his stomach. Two of others soon followed after a quick burst from Kelly and Sam. 

The fourth panicked and let loss on full automatic, spraying bullets towards him. He leaned left then right, managing to avoid the bullets with only a couple of centimetres. The rounds struck the ground behind him, sending up a spray of sand and gravel.

He took aim pressed the trigger and let loss a short controlled burst. The marine groaned as he was struck in the chest and fell down face first.

He turned towards the last marine but found that the others had already taken him down.

The brief fire fight had alerted the marines that there were other intruders in the base.

"Let's hurry" he said.

They where able to avoid a couple of patrols, making their way towards the radar. The entrance was guarded by 12 marines, taking cover behind sandbags.

They aimed and let loss on full automatic, spraying bullets over the defenders, taking down six. He heard the click of the rifle as it ran out of ammunition.  He took cover behind a concrete block to reload, pressed the release and the spent clip fell to the ground with a clatter.

He pulled back the bolt, inserted a new clip and pressed the bolt forward to load a cartridge in the chamber.

He then ran back to the battle and found that they had taken out two more. They five left were taking cover behind the sandbags, making it impossible to get a good aim.

He hit the dirt and began to crawl on his belly, the bullets flying only a couple of decimetres over his head. He crawled to the left of the sandbags, trying to flank them. He peeked through a gap in the sandbags, seeing the marines fully preoccupied with the others. He took careful aim at the one in the back.

A small _cough, cough, cough _was the only thing heard as the silenced rifle spited out three rounds taking out the marine. The four left hadn't noticed yet. _Cough, cough, cough, _another marine down, the others to preoccupied to notice.

_Cough, cough, cough. _This time however the marine hit fell forwards and hit one of the others, alerting them to the enemy.

The marine turned around and let lose a hail of bullets. At a range of 9 meters he couldn't miss, Ranma could fell as the bullets hit him square in the chest, slamming him to the ground.

Unfortunely for the marine, he stood up as he did that, giving the others a clear shoot.

The marine dropped his rifle groaned and clutched his left side before falling down. 

The final marine, dropped his rifle, and putted up his hands in the air.

"DON'T SHOOT, I GIVE UP" He screamed.

_Cough, cough, cough, _Was the answer. The marine groaned and then fell backwards.

Kelly ran up towards where Ranma was lying.  She kneeled besides him, trying to see where he was hit.

"Don't worry, he only hit the vest" He said and pointed towards his bullet proof vest.

On it she could see five deformations where the bullets had hit.

"Just got the wind knocked out of me that's all" He said and stood up.

She nodded and they walked over to the others.

"Kelly, Sam, Jim, secure the building and plant the explosives. We others will guard the entrance, NOW MOVE" The did as he told them, knocking down the door and then disappearing into the building.

He took a covering position at the door, making sure that no one was trying to get in.

The other four was crouching behind the sandbags, ready for anything.

He could hear the firing of assault rifles in the distance, the diversion was working perfectly.

"Explosives placed, timer set to 25 min, let's get our asses out of here" Came Sams voice over the radio.

"Ok" He said.

Then changing frequency he talked into the mice once again.

"This is Blue-leader, to all forces charges are set, so pull back"

"Affirmative, Green-leader out"

"Understood, Red-leader out"

He turned to his squad, Kelly, Sam and Jim had come out of the structure.

"Come on, lets go" He said and then took of in a sprint.

They where currently rowing away from the island. He looked up, the green smoke of the "explosives" rising from somewhere on the island.

In reality those explosive charges was dummies, just simple smoke grenades. They would indicate that they the radar had been "destroyed".

He looked down on his rifle and the display. _3 rounds_. He ejected the almost empty clip with stun-round and injected a full one. The display climbed up to sixty.

Ranma didn't like that the marines was allowed to use live ammunition while they only could use the non-lethal stun-rounds.

If they marines they had encountered had been using any form of armour the rounds would have had no effect whatsoever.

But he also knew why, the marines weren't even aware that this was just a simple training-mission.

This mission was to see how well the defences was, and give the Spartans some field training.

Not the real thing, but as close as even possible. 

He heard the whining of a pelican drop-ship flying somewhere above them, moving towards the island.

His part in this mission was over for him and his squad. Now the other Spartans would be jumping with a parachute over the island taking the strategic locations, while he and his team headed back towards their current HQ.

He looked back at the island, he didn't like to leave now that the others was there fighting. His place was on the battlefield among his friends and family and not on some rusty old tanker. He looked on the faces on the people around him and knew that they felt the same way.

Well orders where orders.

**Training 10 years**

"Chief Mendez, how is the training going?" She said as she walked besides.

"We have run into some… complications." Mendez said as opened a door and let her inside.

"What for kind of _complications_" She said and emphased the word.

"The Spartans themselves" He said and moved over to a huge window opposite the wall.

"What do you mean, are they hurt or sick?" She said a little irritated.

"No, they are all healthy. The problem is that they are being a serious danger to everyone involved in their training. Under the last month alone nine of their hand to hand instructors have been severely injured, and two killed."

"So your men aren't on par with them"

"My men haven't been on par with them since they where nine, but know it is to dangerous to be around them in a fight. They have surpassed their instructors in every field, we have taught them everything we can."

"So they are ready?" She asked with a smug look.

"Yes, the only thing they lack is real experience, and that we cannot teach them"

She nodded.

The window was covered with a blast door. The room they where in was some kind of observation area, the walls lined with monitors.

"But what are we doing here?" She asked then.

"It's hazardous to train with the Spartans in common gear, so we needed something that would protect the trainers and give the Spartans some challenge."

He then pressed a button the panel at the window and the blast door covering the window slid away, revealing a huge cave. In the middle of the cave their was what looked like ten huge, bulky robots. They where about 9 feet tall and armed with what looked like hand mounted machinegun.

"We decided to use the exoskeletons for this." He said and pointed towards the cave.

Catherine only nodded. The exoskeleton was the first kind of powered combat armour, built over thirty years ago. The where fast, strong and had good armour but had many drawbacks that made it unsuitable for combat.

The first was that it needed huge amounts of energy, energy that a small portable reactor couldn't create. The exoskeletons had a cable from their back that went to a reactor and this just wasn't practical on the battlefield, one well aimed shoot at the cable and it was goodnight.

The second was the huge maintenance and manufacturing costs, it just wasn't profitable to build them, and they wouldn't help much in a fight. Because of this the few units left where instead used as dock-loaders to move heavy equipment.

"The trainers are well protected, and the Spartans have to try even harder then before to take them down, or so the idea was from the beginning." He said.

"What do you mean, from the beginning?" She asked confused

"Wait" He said as he walked up to a tech and said something to him, what he said she couldn't hear.

The tech nodded and then pressed a button.

Mendez walked back towards her.

"The Spartans just began, their objective is to take the flag guarded by the trainers."

"How many Spartans and what weapons do they have? And what did you mean by, _from the beginning_?" She asked.

"Just watch and you will understand" He said as he pointed towards cave floor where the trainers waited.

They waited for about five minutes and then she turned towards him.

"And?" She said and raised an eyebrow.

"Look" he said.

She turned towards the window again and looked. After an additional five minutes she was about to turn towards Mendez again when suddenly all light in the chamber went out.

"Bring the lights back immediately" Mendez said to the tech

"Yes sir" the tech replied typing fast on the keyboard.

Down there the only light was coming from the muzzle flames of the trainer's weapons. Then one of the trainer's weapons stopped shooting, making him disappear into the darkness. Then another and another.

The last trainer panicked and began to shoot everywhere, turning around in circles. She then thought she saw as a shadow flashed upon the last trainers and then the also he disappeared into the darkness, making it completely dark in the cave.

Mendez stood there like he had expected it.

He then said.

"23 seconds, the best yet" 

"Got the light back online" the tech said.

A second later the lights flickered back. Down in the cave the ten trainers where lying around. She could see that most hade huge rips and tears in their suits, the black hydraulics fluids slowly spreading in small pools under the suits, looking like the blood from a shoot soldier.

On one of the suits an arm was ripped of, lying next to the ruined exoskeleton. One had a huge dent in the front armour, another had its energy cable ripped of. All suits were damaged beyond repair, but not a single Spartan was seen.

"How did they… in just 23 seconds amazing" She said.

"Do you understand now? The trainers weren't even able to put up a good fight. You could have put an additional twenty exoskeletons in there and it wouldn't have done much difference."

"How many were they? What kind of weapons did they use?"

I sent in five Spartans only armed with their fists"

"FIVE?! WITHOUT WEAPONS?!" She screamed.

"It appears that they are beyond your expectations" He said calmly.

"Yes you could say that" She said as she regained her composure.

"The only thing, as I said before, they lack is first hand experience" He said as he stood watching as technicians ran into the cave to remove the suits from the downed trainers.

She only nodded.

"And one more thing I made subject 117 the commanding officer of the Spartans. He has more then once shown creativity, adaptability and initiative, and takes care of the soldiers under his command, all the skills a good soldier and commander needs to know."

She nodded.

"So you're leaving to train the second batch?" She then said.

"Yes tomorrow" He said.

"The next week we will begin with the augmentations and enhancements" She said.

"When that is over, they will probably be almost undefeateble. I have the feeling that they will give the Covenant nightmares for years to come"

"Me to Mendez" She said as she looked down again, the final trainer moving away on shacking legs.

**Authors Notes**

Man this was long. Finished at last.

**Q:** Dual weapons?

**A:** Spartans going John Woo style? Count on it!

**Q: **Difference from the book and game?

**A: **Yes I know I am not following the books to the letter. I changed some things to make it fit better with the story. For example Master Chief is a little over 40 when the game begins, but I didn't want to make Ranma that old because it wouldn't fit with the rest of the story. I am just using the books for inspiration and some technical data. 

Any questions? Just ask.

Reviews are appreciated

The next time the real war begins.

Big thanks to Madrikor for pre-reading this.


	7. Mendez final lesson

**Disclaimer**: All series belong to respective owners.

**The Halo of the Hero**

**Chapter 7 Mendez final lesson**

He slowly tried to open his eyes, but failed, he couldn't see anything.

Darkness.

The pain was unbelievable. It felt as his entire body was burning and freezing at the same, like there was a thousand knives buried deep within his chest, slowly being turned.

But he didn't have the power to scream, all muscles where just burning more as he tried to use them.

It felt as if his skull was being split open, the pain was unbelievable, this was ten times as bad as the neko-ken had been. He could feel his entire body shake and spasm uncontrollably.

When he thought it couldn't get worse he felt a small stick in his neck. It felt as every single cell in his entire body was being ripped apart and then put back together, again and again.  He couldn't stand it anymore and his mind blacked out.

He regained conscious, his eyes opening slowly. He was greeted by the bright ceiling lights, and it felt like knives in his eyes. He had a hammering headache, felling like someone had hit him over the head with a tank.

He opened his eyes yet again, trying to get used to the levels of light in the room.

_God damned that's bright! _He thought.

When his eyes had adjusted to the light and his headache had gone from totally-unbearable-please-kill-me, to tell-those-dwarfs-to-stop-hammer-my-head-with-mallets, he looked around the room. In the bed next to him lay Kelly and to his right Grace.

He tried to move his body to get of from the bed but when did it his entire body began to shake uncontrollably.

He stopped and just lay back, trying to remember why he was here.

He remembered Dr Halsey saying something about augmentations, and something about operations. He couldn't remember clearly, the drugs in his body making his entire mind dizzy.

He just stared up at the ceiling, falling unconscious in a matter of minutes.

"There were some unexpected side-effects on subject 012, 051, 117, 145 and 186." Izack said as he handed her a folder.    

"What kind of side-effects?" She said tiredly, she had under the last week been leading the operations on half a dozen or so Spartans.

"The liquid crystal that would connect their brain and neural implants leaked out and began to spread trough their brains" He said.

"How are they?" She asked now worried.

"To subject 012, 145 and 186 this proved fatal, their brains couldn't handle the shock. Spartans 051 and 117 are alive, but subject 051 is lying in coma and isn't believed to wake up. Spartan 117 isn't healing as fast as expected but he will probably make a full recovery.

On 117 we don't know if this is a side effect because of his special treatment."

She just nodded.

"How long before they have recovered and can begin their training?"

"About 2-4 months I believe" He said.

"How many will survive?" She said.

"It is too early to say" He said and then left, leaving Dr. Halsey all alone in the laboratory.

"And so we commit our fallen brothers and sisters too space. May they find the peace in death that they didn't find in life"

As Ranma said the last words he closed his eyes solemnly. He stood rigidly on the fire deck of the cruiser, the normally crowded area was now only filled with the burial detail of the Spartans.

He pressed a control and the canisters filled with the ashes of 83 of the Spartans were loaded into the ejection tubes. _ Ashes of my family_ He thought sadly to himself but his face didn't show anything at all.

"Duty, honour and self sacrifice. Death doesn't diminish these qualities in a soldier…

We remember" He continued.

He could hear the thump as the canisters was ejected into space. A screen showed as the canisters left the ship and began to fall behind the cruiser as it continued on its course.

"Honours…ten hut!    

Every one of the surviving Spartans gave a crisp salute, eyes locked into the screen as the final canister disappeared into the void.

Ranma looked and for every canister that disappeared it felt as a part of himself was lost.

It felt as they where leaving them behind. Each and every one contained a person he had known from early childhood, persons that had been like brothers or sisters to him.

"Crewmen dismissed" he said as he ended the salute and turned around.

He looked back at the rest of the Spartans, not all was lost he reminded himself. They where 107 Spartans left, but over thirty would never be able to see any combat, the damage on their bodies after the augmentations had been too great.

He looked as everyone left except a man in the back. He turned towards the man as was about to order him to leave when he saw that it was Chief Mendez.

It was the last man Ranma expected to see, the last he heard Mendez was on a new mission, the location was secret. The man walked over to him and looked on the screen that displayed the stars.

"God day Sir" Ranma said as he gave the man a salute.

Mendez looked upon Ranmas shoulder where his rank was seen.

"No, I am the one to give a salute here Master Chief" He said.

"Old habits die hard" Ranma said and looked out at the stars.

Mendez only nodded. He then turned towards him, looking into his eyes.

"Something bothering you?" Mendez asked.

Ranma only sighed and shifted his look towards Mendez.

"And?" Mendez continued.

"The death of all the Spartans" He said simply.

"A soldier must be ready to take the death of a fellow soldier, and leader must be ready to send the soldiers under his command to their deaths." Mendez said and turned towards the screen once again.

"I understand" Ranma said.

"You do this because your duty to the UNSC and mankind supersedes your duty to yourself or even your team-mates" Mendez continued.

Ranma only nodded.

"It is acceptable to spend their lives if necessary" He said and turned towards Ranma. "It is not acceptable however, to waste those lives. Do you understand the difference?"

"Yes sir I think I understand" Ranma said. "But what was it here, lives spent or lives wasted?" He asked.

Mendez didn't answer as he turned towards the screen again.

He dodged the kick and deflected the punch aimed at his head. He then began to move towards his target, seeming to flow around every kick and punch that his enemy threw at him. His opponent threw a left hook, which he skilfully deflected with his right arm.

Ranma then punched hard into the gut of his opponent who only grunted and continued to throw punches and kicks like nothing happened.

His opponent hit him in the chest and he flew backwards and hit the floor with a loud _thud_.

He groaned but was able to stand up, clutching his chest.

The eight feet giant didn't give him any time to rest thou and he just continued to throw punches at him.

He flowed around the punches and was able to deliver a fast left-right combination and a fast kick. The enemy groaned and then fell backwards.

"Ok… I give up" Sam said as he was helped up on his feet by Ranma.

"Man… that was a good fight" Ranma said as he dried his sweaty forehead with a towel panting hard.

Both had been training hard the entire day, trying to get used to the changes done on their bodies.

When he first had woken up from the process he couldn't walk properly and falling often.

They had said that it was okay, that his brain needed to learn to work with faster reflexes and stronger muscles.

The last 2 months they had gone trough a daily routine of stretching, isometric exercises and light sparring drills.

At the end Ranma and Sam decided that they would have a short sparring match, first to three wins was the rules. The "short sparring match" turned into a two hour long slug fest, where Ranma had won with only a small margin.

As he looked around he could see the marines stare awed at them. It probably had something to do with the fact that Sam was a little over 8 feet and Ranma a little under 7 feet, giants among men with other words.

Or it was the fact that they had been in the 4 gee area and traded punches and kicks like the gravity didn't bother them at all.

Both Ranma and Sam didn't care as they walked towards the canteen to get some food. They where ordered to eat at least five high-protein meals a day.

Another thing since the augmentations was that he had gained a lot of weight, now he was weighing over a hundred and thirty kilos and gained more weight every day, but was still as lithe and agile as before.

There was only 75 Spartans left, 83 had died during the augmentation process and 32 had suffered from the side-effects and had been reassigned to tactical and strategic duty.

Maybe they weren't able to be frontline-soldiers anymore but they still were some of the brightest the Navy had to offer.

Ranma was currently lying on a desk in the medical bay in Reach Military Complex.

They where calibrating his neural implants and retinal sensors, to see if they where working at one hundred percent.

"Do you see any data on your retina?" The doctor asked as he stood over a computer and typed in some commands.

"No" Ranma answered.

"Now?"

"No"

It took them over three and a half hour to find the correct neural frequency.

"Now?" The doctor asked again, sounding really bored.

It stung a little but then he could see as purple-red text slowly began to appear before his eyes.

"Yes" He said.

"Officer on deck" Ranma said as the captain entered their quarters. Everyone stopped what they where doing and saluted.

"At ease" He said and then turned towards Ranma.

"Master Chief, I need talk to you" The captain said and pointed towards a corner where they could talk without anyone hearing.

"Yes sir" Ranma said.

"I have got new orders from Dr. Halsey." He said and continued. "You and your men will be moved to different military units, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and the regular Marines most likely."

"Sir, may I ask why we are split up?"

"First they want you do get first hand experience. And second they don't want every Spartan on the same ship, one lucky hit with a Covenant plasma torpedo and every single Spartan would be gone."

"I understand" Ranma said.

Ranma walked into his new living quarters, closely followed by Kelly, Sam, Linda and Grace, his team.

He had been reassigned to the cruiser ATLAS, as a member of the UNSC Marines 105th.  He scratched the tattoo on his right arm absentmindedly.  

The tattoo was that of a flaming golden comet. Over the comet it stood UNSC MARINES. Under that it stood 105th Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.

Under the comet it stood Helljumpers and under it their motto "Feet first into hell".

The ODST-Helljumpers was probably, apart from the Spartans, the best soldiers in the entire UNSC navy.

They had a reputation for success and for brutality.

He looked around in the quarters. It had about thirty military bunks, lined after the walls. He looked around after his bunk, spotted it and walked over.

The nametag on his footlocker read Ranma Angelo Craven S. Matthews, the name he was given by HQ. He thought it was a little long but didn't bother too get it changed

He dropped the backpack he was carrying on the floor and began to empty it, checking his gear and placing it in his locker.

He pulled out his M6D pistol from the backpack and inserted a full clip, then placed it in his holster._ Always be ready, never let your guard down_ He thought to himself.

"Who are you soldier?" he heard a voice from behind him.

He turned around and saw a man wearing the strips that indicated that he was sergeant.

"Private first class Ranma A.C.S Matthews, reporting Sir" He said and gave him a crisp salute.

"The new recruits?" he asked.

"Yes sir" Ranma said.

"Well then, welcome to the helljumpers"

**7 June 2549****, One and a half years after the augmentation process.**

**Location: Outside UNSC controlled space.**

**UNSC Marines, Orbital Drop Shock Troopers.**

**Mission****: Retaking of cruiser Prometos **

Ranma pulled on his ballistic armour that every helljumper wore. It was made of titanium and ceramic to withstand the plasma from covenant weaponry better. The entire full body armour was black and weighted 30 kilos, to a Spartan that was nothing.

He tightened the straps on the forearms protection made of Kevlar, he then flexed his hand to see if they were fastened correctly. He picked up the breastplate and checked it for any defects, and finding nothing began to put it on

He heard a click as the breastplate was attached and then pulled on his helmet. He put on the shoulder plates and the flexed his shoulders to see if they were attached correctly. That was the last piece of armour.

He jumped up and down a few times to see if anything was lose. Hearing nothing scramble, he began to walk towards the armoury to get his weaponry.

He checked the MA5B assault rifle for any superficial damage and finding none inserted a full clip. He could hear the _click_ sound as the rifle chambered a cartridge. He then pressed the safety on

He then checked the pins on the grenades he had around his belt, nothing was wrong.

A big number of space pirates had ambushed a badly damaged UNSC cruiser after a Covenant attack, and the UNSC wanted it back.

They would send in group of ODST to take the ship back, and to search after survivors.

The UNSC didn't have any intel on how many, or how well armed the pirates were, but one thing was sure they wouldn't be happy to see them.

"Okay, get moving marines. GO, GO, GO" He heard the sergeant yell.

They fell into a slow jog towards the hangar bay where their drop-ship was waiting.

They would board the ship through one of the many airlocks, and then take back the bridge and engine room.

He jumped into the waiting vessel. He sat down on the uncomfortable seat and just let his mind drift.

This wasn't his first mission against humans and it probably wouldn't be his last.

Under the last year in the ODST he had been on 58 missions, twelve of them where against human pirates and renegades.

He looked around the compartment, seeing the faces of the marines around him, and he wondered how many would die today.

After over a year of combat most of the original ODST he had meet were dead.

One after another they had died, being replaced by new soldiers, and they to had died and also they had been replaced. 

It was only him, the other four Spartans and three others that were left, and they were now the veterans. He shook his head, he could remember every name of every soldier that had been in their unit.

He looked on the faces of the other soldiers, even though they tried to hide it he could see they were scared. He just leaned back in his seat and relaxed a little, now everything rested by the pilot.

He could hear as the engines of the dropship started and could feel the slight increase in gravity as the ship took of. He could see as the left the ship and could see the stars and void beyond.

"ETA 30 seconds. Get ready marines." He heard the pilots' voice over the com system.

He checked his weapon, everything was working as it should. He could see the cruiser, over the entire hull he could see impacts after plasma torpedos, the armour had been boiled away and the blackened and scorched structure of the ship could be seen, looking like the burned skeleton of a dead soldier.

The dropship slowly flew towards the ship, docking at an airlock.

He readied his rifle, putting it against his shoulder. The airlock opened with a hiss.

The corridor was dark, the only light coming from some sparking monitors. The first marine took a flashlight and began to scan the corridor.

The artificial gravity wasn't working, so they could see some spent casings from assault rifles slowly drift by.

He let the light from his flashlight slowly sweep over the interior of the corridor, the objects floating by casting shadows on the walls.

"The, bridge is that way and the engine room that way" the sergeant said as he pointed right then left.

The marines nodded.

"Team-1, follow me to the engine room, and team-2 get to the bridge. Matthews you are in charge."

The sergeant and his squad began to move down the corridor and then disappeared around a corner.

He turned towards his team, they were ten.

"Follow me" He said and then pushed of from the wall, beginning to float down the other corridor.

He grabbed a steal beam and pushed of again. He could now see more and more casings. As he swept the walls with his flashlight he could see the where the bullets had hit.

He could see the rows of bullets impacts that showed where a dieing soldier had put his last shoots. He could see that it had been a big fight, but they didn't find any bodies, which really bothered him.

Here and there he could see small drops of blood floating around but still no bodies. The entire ship seemed deserted, no lights, no gravity, no sign of the crew or pirates for that matter. Something wasn't right.

He let the flashlight sweep over the walls again. As he turned around he thought he saw something in the corner of his eyes.

"Scatter!" He yelled and pushed himself and three other marines behind a steel beam.

He could hear as automatic rifles fired, and the bullets impacting on steel.  He looked around on his squad, five of the other marines had been able to find cover, but the sixth had been hit. He could see as the body floated around, spilling blood from a head wound everywhere, flying around in small red blobs.

"Flashlight out!" he yelled.

The marines turned of their flashlight and the only thing that was seen was the nuzzle-flames from the pirate's weapons.

He took aim at one of the flames and fired a three round burst. He could hear a yell and the flame disappeared.

The rest of the marines followed suit and began to empty their weapons at the enemy.

He primed a grenade and then threw it at the pirates. The grenade flew in a straight line thanks to gravity or lack there of.

The grenade exploded, covering the walls for a moment in red light. The flames of five of pirates disappeared and didn't come back.

He could hear a scream behind him and saw a marine clutching his chest, floating out from behind his cover.

He saw as another marine from the wall opposite him pushed of from the wall and flew straight over and through the hail of bullets towards the injured marine. He grabbed the waist of the injured and dragged him towards cover, bullets flying only centimetres from the two.

"COVERING FIRE!" He yelled and leaned out from his cover, letting lose on full automatic.

The pirates began to take cover and the brave soldier was able to drag the other man in cover. He primed another grenade and threw, hoping to lose up the lines of pirates a little.

The grenade exploded and another three pirates died. But the pirates just continued to fire.

He looked behind him where the team's medic was trying to stop the bleeding. It wasn't working and the marine was going into shock, shacking uncontrollably.

The pirates were slowly gaining ground and pushed back the marines.

"This is Matthews, we have encountered heavy resistance, one dead and one injured." Ranma said

"I hear you, but we need the bridge."

"Yes sir" He said.

He looked around for something, anything that could help them.

The pirates were taking cover behind a barricade of steel plates and doors, making it almost impossible to get a good aim.

"Harris, Davis, give me your wielding sets" He said.

They looked confused but did as they were told. The blowtorch was small, slightly bigger then a pistol. It was part of the standard gear the marines had when they boarded ships. It was used to open doors or cut through metal debris. The torch was completely useless as a weapon because the range of the flame was less then ten centimetres.

It was however fuelled by a small canister filled with a highly flammable liquid gas.

He quickly dismantled the torches and took the canisters.

He took a bit of duck tape and stuck a grenade to the canister. The second canister he threw down the corridor towards the pirates.

"McLees, shoot it!" He yelled.

McLees did as he was ordered and aimed his shotgun at the canister. He hit it dead on, making it fly to pieces and spreading its contents, and drenching the pirates.

He removed the pin on the improvised molotov-coctail and threw it down the corridor.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE" He yelled and took cover behind a pillar.

The grenade and canister exploded in a fireball and then ignited the fuel from the first canister. The explosion was huge, they could fell the immense heat even trough their armour as the shockwave hit them

It wasn't in the book, but on the battlefield it was adapt or die, simple as that.

He could hear the terrified screams of the pirates as the flames consumed their bodies. The screams then began to disappear one by one and the only thing that then was heard was the sparking flames. Everyone could smell the stench of burned flesh.

He turned towards the injured marine and saw that he his breath had become shallow and blood flowed from the chest.

"Get him back to the dropship, the medics will take care of him" Ranma said, he knew that it was a lie, the soldier wouldn't make it.

He floated toward the killed marine and removed his dog-tags, tucking into a pouch on his belt.

Ranma and the six other marines began to make their way towards the barricade. Everything was black after the explosion and here and there they could see the burned remains of the pirates.

The skin was black except on those places where it had where it had burst and displayed the red tissue underneath.

One of the marines threw up at the sight, and he couldn't blame him. The sight would make any normal human fell disgusted. But he was Spartan, and this didn't really bother him, sure he didn't like or enjoy it, but the pirates had been enemies and had to be neutralized.

You just don't cry over a dead enemy.    

He let the flashlight seep over the area, looking for any hostiles that may have survived the flames. He let the light sweep over the pirates, finding only burned corpses.

Wait, there was something moving, he moved the light back again.

The light stopped on one of the pirates, his left leg from the knee and down was gone, and his entire body was badly burned. He was clutching what was left of his left hand to his chest. His breathing was coming in small gasps, and blood trickled from his lip.

The throat of the pirate had a piece of metal sticking trough it, which had probably cut trough his airways.

The pirate mumbled something, but he couldn't hear what. He leaned forward, making sure the pirate didn't have any weapons in his hands.

"Please… please…" he said and gasped.

"What?" Ranma said calmly locking eyes.

"Pain… it hurts… please… make… the pain… go away…" The pirate continued.

"How?" Ranma asked, already knowing the answer.

"Kill me" He said.

Ranma brought up his M9D pistol, pressing it against the forehead of the pirate.

"Thank you" The pirate said and closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

He calmly pulled the trigger, ending the life of this pirate. He could see as the 12.7 mm round blew away the backside of the pirates skull, painting the wall red with blood.

He knew he should fell remorse and shame for killing, felling disgusted with himself for taking another persons life. He didn't feel nothing, this was just another of countless lives he had taken, knowing full well that it needed to be done.

He defiantly didn't like killing but he didn't hate it either, it was just part of who he was, of _what _he was. He was a soldier it was that simple, and to him killing was second nature.

They had to be, the military didn't want people that would hesitate if it came to killing, but they didn't want blood frenzied psychos either.

He reholstered his pistol and then began to make his way down the corridor.

As he moved down the corridor he talked into his microphone.

"This is Matthews, we are moving towards the bridge, any enemy contact?"

"No, we haven't found a trace of anyone" Came the sergeants' reply.

They continued to float down the corridors, eyes and weapons trained in anything that looked suspicious. The only thing seen was the glittering of empty casings floating by.

As they moved farther down the corridor the more casings was floating around. They walls was full of bullet impacts, and here and there they could see scorch marks where grenades had exploded.

Down one of the corridors he could see some bodies of dead pirates floating around. Down the corridor he could see a blast door almost entirely closed, only a feet or so was still open.

He stopped and began to float down the corridor, pushing the bodies of the dead pirates to the side.

The fact that the bodies of the pirates were cold meant that they had been dead for at least 24 hours. _Then why haven't the pirates removed the corpses?_ He thought.

He peeked trough the slit in the door and could see the remains of a couple marines.

"Come here and help me open this door" He said and began to try and widen the gap.

The machinery operating the door must have been damaged because together they where able open it another feet.

He squeezed trough the gap and scanned the area.

The door let to a small hall and the only other way out was through a small door.

It looked like it was here the marines had put up there last stand, trying to fight of the pirates.

He removed the dog-tag from every marine and then began to move towards the next door.

The door wasn't locked so he could easily push it open. The inside was dark so he lit his flashlight. He came face to face with thirty or so weapons, but the men and women that held them weren't pirates, they all wore an assortment of different UNSC clothes.

He could see everything ranging from hardcore badass ODSTs to kitchen personnel, everyone holding a weapon.

"Hold your fire, it's an ODST" Came the voice from a woman in her late fifties wearing the pins of a captain.

She continued.

"Who the hell are you soldier, and where did you come from?"

"Second lieutenant Ranma Matthews from the 105th ODST, and we are to take back the ship, captain" Ranma said.

"Reinforcements? About goddamned time you guys showed up" The captain said.

"yeah, we have been stuck here for over five days" A sergeant said.

"Don't worry we will get you back home" Ranma said and continued. "But is there more survivors?"

"Don't know, after the fight with the Covenant we put most crew in cryostasis, and when the pirates came we didn't have time to wake them up. We initiated the Cole protocol and then made our way to this armoury. This is the only way to cryobay, the Covenant but a plasma torpedo at the main access, so there could be more survivors in cryo-stasis."

"Why haven't you made your way to the cryo-bay and found out?" Ranma asked.

"Most blast-doors in this compartment are malfunctioning, and we didn't have any way to open them" The captain said as she ran her hands trough her shorn hair.

"How many pirates do you think there is?"

"No idea"

He nodded and he then talked into his microphone.

"Sergeant, this is Matthews, we have found survivors."

"How many?"

"Thirty-four, including the captain and her bridge crew"

"See to it that they make it back safely to the dropship."

"Yes sir".

He looked back on the crew of the ship.

"Okay we are getting you out of here, now follow me"

They did as they where told and followed him out to the waiting marines. Ranma pointed to two of the marines.

"You escort the crew back to the dropship."

"Yes sir" Came the reply.

The crew and the escort took of down the corridor they had come from, while the others under the command of Ranma continued towards the bridge.

He primed another grenade, his last, and threw it down the corridor.

It exploded, killing 5 pirates, but didn't do much to stop the wave of enemies moving towards them.

They had made it to the bridge uneventfully, securing it and then began to check the ships status.

During this the pirates had attacked, trapping them inside the bridge. During the first assault one of his men had died and another one was injured, so they where three left. They where able to push the pirates back, but after the first attack came a second and a third…

The had successfully repelled all attacks, but was slowly running out of ammunition, everyone was out of grenades and most was down to their last clip.

He aimed and shoot a single bullet in the head of a pirate, a cloud of blood appearing behind his skull.

He aimed at another pirate and shoot, also this time in the head with the same result.

The ODST was giving the pirates hell, dishing out some serious pain.

He aimed at another pirate and when he pressed the trigger he only got a _click, click, click_.

The display was down to zero, and he didn't have any more clips. He let go of his rifle and unholstered his pistol.

He aimed at a pirate and pulled the trigger. He could see as the 12,7 mm semi armour piercing- high explosive round hit the pirate under the left eye. Everything from the jaw and up disappeared in a gory cloud of bones, blood and brain tissue.

He aimed, pulled the trigger and then began from the beginning again.

He emptied his last round and then drew his combat knife.

"Pull back!" He yelled and began to back away toward the door to the bridge.

He took position around the corner of a wall, and when the first pirate walked around it he stabbed her in the neck, cutting through the spine and killing her instantly. He grabbed the pirate's rifle and unleashed hell upon the pirates.

In the small corridor there was no cover, so he couldn't miss, bullets filling the air like angry bees, ripping into the pirates with vengeance.  When his clip was spent the only thing in the small corridor was the floating corpses of the pirates. 

He grabbed one of their rifles and threw it to the nearest ODST, who deftly caught it. He went from corpse to corpse, gathering together weapons and ammo.

The pirates were all equipped with a small compact sub-machine gun, which now had landed in the hands of the small group of ODST.

Now they didn't need to worry about ammunition, every pirate carried a backpack full of it.

The next wave of enemies came only after a minute. He use one of the many corpses as a shield and then returned fire, spraying metal death towards the pirates. His rifle clicked and he threw, he then grabbed the extra rifle slung around his shoulder and resumed the shooting. The radio crackled to life. 

"Matthews, my team have secured the engine room, so vent the ship NOW!"

"Yes sir" Ranma said.

"You heard the man, pull back and lock the door" He yelled and put up covering fire as they moved back into the bridge.

He was shooting at the pirates, moving backwards towards the door. He could feel as some bullets pinged of his armour. One pirate became lucky and hit the gap between the shoulder pads and chest plate.

His shoulder burned with the familiar feeling of a bullet wound, but he didn't mind it as he kicked of a wall and flew trough the door.

He slammed the door shut and pressed the locking mechanism, locking the door and making it airtight.

"Vent it now" He said calmly.

The injured marine nodded and then pressed in a short command into the main consol.

The plan was to take over the two most important locations on the ship, the first was the reactor/engine room and the other was the bridge.

If they found any survivors they would take them back to the dropship.

When that was done, they would lock down the two compartments airtight and then vent all atmosphere to take care of any pirates.

They would then commandeer the ship back to dry-dock.

"This is second lieutenant Matthews to dropship Charlie 4-16, we are venting the ship now" Ranma said into his microphone.

"Affirmative, lieutenant we are moving out. Have a good flight marines:" Cam the reply over the radio.

Over the entire ship the airlocks opened, flushing out every pirate in the ship. The screams from the pirates wasn't heard through the vacuum of space.

He walked over to the consol and put in a small datadisk in the AI slot. It contained a simple program that would make the ship enter slipspace and go towards reach.

"Can you check the cryo-bays for any survivors."

"No problem, sir"

The marine walked over to a different consol and began to type in some commands.

"Sir ship inventory shows that all cryo-tubes are fully operational. Ship crew is intact."

He leaned back into a chair, removing his shoulder pad so he could treat the wound. The bullet went right trough and it didn't hit any bones, so no permanent damage was done.

He sunk into the chair as the ship entered slipspace.

_Another mission finished successfully._ He thought as the team's medic began to fill the wound with biofoam. He leaned back in the chair, trying to get some rest.

**9 September 2549******

**Location: Planet Kaln**

**UNSC Marines Orbital Drop Shock Troopers**

**Mission****: Recapture of the Karn space-port**

"Get your asses moving marines" The sergeant barked out.

Everyone knew the drill and was soon standing in two rows facing each other. The sergeant was slowly walking between the two rows.

"The Covenant has found the colony world of Karn, and the UNSC has begun the evacuation of the planet. Most civilians have already left the planet in the evacuation ships. I say most because the Covenant has captured the flight control to Karns main space-port.

Most civilians in the city were able to escape before the covenant arrived, but one ship is still docked in the underground bunker, unable to take of because of the covenant presence. A small number of marines are holding the entrance to the bunker but they haven't enough firepower to take out the covenant forces.

That's why the UNSC are sending down two groups of regular marines backed up by us there to clean the place up, so the civilians are able to leave. Any questions?"

"No Sir" Came the gathered ODSTs reply.

The sergeant got an evil smile.

"Now the rest of your fellow grunts are already on route towards the port. They will ride in air-conditioned comfort, drinking whine and nibbling on appetizers. You however, will leave the ship by a different method. Tell me boys and girls… how will you leave?"

This was a time-honoured ritual, something that was almost as old as the ODST, and they yelled out in unison.

"WE GO FEET FIRST, SIR"

"Damn right you do, now get your asses in gear and move out, triple time"

They jogged to the HEV launch bay. They made a last gear check and then climbed aboard their personal HEV. The HEV, or Human Entry Vehicle, was the ODST-way of entering a fight. The vehicle was oval shaped and about 3.5 metres tall.

Most combat landings were made with armed assault boats or dropships, but they where slow and was an easy target for enemy anti-aircraft fire, so the UNSC developed the HEV.

They where small and had room for a single person, but entered the atmosphere incredibly fast. Anti-aircraft fire would hit some of the pods, but would only result into one death instead of a dozen.

The craft was a single time use however, as the friction made by the entry in the atmosphere burned away the ceramic skin of the vehicle. Because of this the temperature in the HEV was immense, sometimes enough to kill a persons, and that was the reason only the bravest was OSDT, it was an all volunteer-outfit, it took a special kind of crazy to join up. And that was the reason the ODST was referred to as Helljumpers.

Ranma climbed aboard his vessel after checking each member of his team. He fastened the belts so hard that they almost cut of circulation. He pressed the close button on the small computer and the hatch closed with a hiss as the airlocks sealed.

He looked down on the timer as it slowly ticked down to zero. He could hear a loud thump as the tube was ejected from the craft and began to move towards the planet. Someone put in a small disk into a data-player and pushed the play button, and then played the disk over the team freq.

Ranma could hear as the radio crackled to life and the metal music that was the Helljumpers unofficial anthem boomed over the speakers.

Ranma knew that unauthorized use of the com freq was against the regulation, but he also knew that if he ordered the ODST to stop it, the moral would drop. And besides it wasn't his job to do it, it was the sergeants.

The sergeant kept quiet and so did Ranma, not bothering with a small thing as a little music. The real problem was the masses of Covenant down on the ground.

Ranma leaned back as the pod hit the atmosphere and began to slow down, not bothered the slightest by the increased temperature.

"Take out that tank now goddamned it" the sergeant yelled.

The man carrying the rocket launcher turned towards where the sergeant was pointing. Two 102 mm rockets left their tubes and hurried towards the tank. The first rocket hit it the left grav-pod blowing it away and the second slammed in trough the plasma mortars firing mechanism.

The tank irrupted in a huge ball of blue plasma, flying to pieces and hitting the covenant infantry with shrapnel.

Ranma aimed at a banshee as it flew over head. The thing turned around for another strafing run. A quick burst of bullets hit the small aircraft in the forward cockpit, but making nothing except a couple of small scratches in the paint.

The banshee sprayed the human forces with plasma fire taking out three more marines.

As the craft was making it was from the group, Ranma aimed at the unprotected back of the pilot, making the back of the craft erupt into a geyser of purple blood.

He took cover in a crater, changing his clip to his rifle. As soon the ODST and regular marines had landed on the space-port all hell had broken lose. The Covenant had been extremely well dug in, and the marines had taken huge losses when they retook the flight control.

Over a third of the marines where dead and another three fourths was severely injured.

They had managed to get the wounded to the civilians and marines at the bunker.

The ship would need thirty minutes to take off, due to damage in the ships engines.

The marines where ordered to protect the gate from any and all covenant attacks.

At the beginning it had been easy, taking out some grunts and a couple of jackals and one or two elites. Then the covenant had begun to send in heavy stuff, like the wraith-tanks, the ghost light attack vehicle or the banshee aircraft. And worst, over eight hunters, they where like tanks with legs, huge, though, and packed a lot of punch.

The defenders were now down to 13, not precisely the lucky number.

He aimed his rifle at a band of grunts trying to flank them. A couple of short bursts later and the grunts were on their way to the big swamp-lands in the sky.

He opened fire towards an elite, thirty rounds was needed to take down his shield and another three to take the alien down. He ejected the almost spent clip and injected a new one.

"Sergeant we are good to go, tell your men that they can pull back." Came the voice over the comm. Channels.

"You heard the lady, move your lazy asses" The sergeant said as he emptied a clip on an elite and then throwing the rifle towards a group of grunts. The sergeant turned around and took of towards the bunker entrance.

Half way there he helped a wounded soldier to get on his legs and then half carried, half dragged him to the towards the evac.

Ranma saw as a pair of grunts aimed towards the sergeant and the injured soldier.

"SHUZUMI, TAYLORS COVERING FIRE!" Ranma yelled and opened fire on the grunts.

They turned around and let lose on full automatic, cutting down the grunts in seconds.

Shuzumis rifle then went dry and he then ran towards the rest of the marines.

"TAYLOR PULL BACK!" Ranma said and then began to run towards the entrance and the waiting transport back.

About halfway there Taylor was hit in the leg, and he fell to the ground screaming, clutching his leg.

Ranma ran like hell and didn't even stop as he grabbed Taylor and slung him over his left shoulder. He zigzagged to avoid the plasma fire from the Covenant and then threw himself and Taylor trough the door.

He looked on the marines spread out in the compartment. They where 32 left, the thirteen that had defended the entrance and 19 of the injured from earlier. In his hand he held 21 dog-tags, the rest of the 28 dog tags either the sergeant had or had been left on the battlefield.

He made a short prayer towards the fallen soldiers and promised to continue the fight, never to give up. It was his way of showing the soldiers their last respect, to continue the work that they had begun. ****

**18 June 2550**

**Location:**

**Special Forces Black Ops, Ghosts**

**Mission****: Hostage Rescue**

Major Camilla Martinez was lying face down on the cold stone floor. Her hands and legs were tied together painfully. Dried blood covered her naked body giving the air a smell of copper. She breathed slowly every breath was painful. She coughed up a little blood.

She tried to move but the metal wires she was tied up with dug deep into her flesh. She was able to roll over to her side.

Under normal circumstances she would have been considered beautiful, but know with her face covered with bruises and dried blood not much of that beauty was seen.   

She had been the person in charge of the routs of the UNSC supply vessels, and she had been kidnapped during a routine flight to one of the outer colonies.

The pirates wanted to know the routes so they could attack them. She hadn't told them nothing, even after that they tortured and raped her she kept quiet. The last had been the worst, she still cried, not because of the pain but of the fear it would happen again

She had to keep quiet, if she didn't men and women in the UNSC would die.

She had been stuck here for over two weeks, being tortured and raped daily, and any hope of rescue had vanished.

She knew she would die here, but the knowledge that the pirates needed her for the information and keep her alive, made her remain quiet.

Once she told them she would be executed.

She cried again tears of pain, fear and humiliation falling and running down her cheeks.

Her sobs turning into small coughs. She knew that soon they would bring her up again at it would start all over again. She looked around seeing nothing in the darkness. She was in a basement with stone walls and floor.

The only source of light came from the light that seeped trough the floor boards. Soon she knew that the wooden hatch would open and they would walk down the stairs.

In the distance she thought she heard something, but couldn't be sure what it was. The floor boards above her creaked as people was running over it.

Then everything was silent, the people stopped running.

She could hear a loud bang and then the angry screams of people.

She could hear the sound of rifles firing and people screaming in pain. The flashes from many rifles and guns firing was seen well through the floorboards. It only took five seconds then it went quiet again, the only thing heard was a loud thud as something heavy hit the wooden floor.

She heard two metallic clings as something hit the floor and then two ca-clicks followed shortly after each other.

She tried to look up but the wires around her hands and legs dug in painfully in her flesh.

She could feel something drop from the ceiling and down on her body.

A little hit her on the cheek and ran in her open mouth and, she knew then that the fluid was blood. She could hear the slowly dripping of the liquid as it hit her and the stone floor around her.

The wooden hatch open and in the light she could see the outline of a tall man holding two small sub machineguns, one in each hand. He holstered on rifle and brought up a flashlight instead.

He turned on his flashlight, and as he let the light sweep over the floor she could see that it was covered in pools of blood.

He let the light rest on her body and then he began to walk down the stairs towards her. She tried to edge away from the dangerous stranger but failed because of the wires. He holstered his other rifle and brought up a combat knife instead.

As she saw this she began to cry, scared of what this man would do to her.

The man took an iron strong grip on her wrist and then moved the knife towards her.

But instead of slitting her throat he cut, he cut trough her restrains. She looked up fearfully at the, not knowing what to do.

"I am Sergeant Ranma Matthews, special forces. I am her to take you home." The man said and covered her body in a grey-blanket.

It was at that moment that her emotional walls burst completely. She wrapped her arms around the mans neck and cried into his shoulder. 

"Don't worry its all over" he said.

She just continued to cry, holding on to the man like her life depended on it. He wrapped the blanket around her tightly and then lifted her up like she didn't weigh anything. She still clutched the man tightly, still crying.

As the man walked up the stair she could see the entire room covered with the bodies of dead pirates.

She just clutched the man tighter. She looked around the room with a scared expression. She was afraid of what had happened to them, to tired to understand that the man she was holding on to was the cause of it.

She looked for the first time up at the face of the man. He didn't seem bothered by all the corpses that were lying around him. He walked towards the door that was lying in pieces on the floor, it looked like someone had kicked it in.

She then looked at his eyes in hope of finding any form fear, fright, or disgust at all the dead.

His eyes were ice-blue, with a tinge of red/purple at the edges, and only displayed death and determination. It was as looking at a piece of ice for all emotion found in them.

But still she held onto the man leaning her head towards his shoulder, falling in a dreamless sleep, and for the first time in a long time felling secure.  Ranma just fell into a fast run, still holding the sleeping form of Major Camilla Martinez, towards the evacuation point.

**17 November 2550******

**Location: Unknown.**

**Special Forces Black ops, Ghosts**

**Mission****: Assassination**

He was moving trough the forest like a shadow, seen by no one. It was raining heavy, making it impossible to see more then fifty meters. From the jungle floor, fog was beginning to creep up, small tendril snaking around the legs of the shadow.

He was running fast, evading the enemy patrols with trained ease. He was clothed in a green camouflage gear with black combat boots. His face was covered with green and black paint.

He had a camouflage net around him like a cloak, giving him the shape of a rock or bush and not the human it in reality was.

In his arms was a S4 AM sniper rifle, a more advanced version of the standard sniper rifle the marines had. That was his only weapon except an 11 inch titanium combat knife in his left boot.

His mission was simple, locate and neutralize the leader of the pirates who had there base on this planet. He had been dropped of three days ago and had to make his way trough a thick jungle, making sure enemy patrols didn't detect him.

He was close to his target, another five minutes and he would be there. He stopped by some bushes and looked down at the valley. In the middle of it he could see an installation. It was their refuelling station for their fighter and lighter spacecrafts.

Intel had pointed out that their leader, a Senator Jane Eddings, was going to do an inspection today. These renegades had been responsible for a number of pirate attacks on UNSC transport vessels, and the UNSC wanted a stop to these attacks.

Instead of launching a full scale operation against them, they would simply take out their leader.

He rolled out a blanket on the ground and then laid himself on it. The he made sure to cover himself with the camouflage net, making him look like a bush.

He put the rifle down and locked trough the telescopic sight and switched to image intensifier, bathing everything in a green light.

He checked the range and wind, making the adjustments to the scope. Usually this wasn't needed, but at range of 4,5 km only a little mistake in the scope meant that he would miss with metres.

He then waited, keeping his focus the entire time.

_Be on your guard or be dead._ He heard Mendez voice in his head.

He flexed his shoulders to get the stiff out of them and then began to scan the camp. The camp was surrounded by a ten feet fence with barbed wire on top.

Armed guards were walking around the perimeter on patrol.

From the camp there was a small road and he scanned it for any sign of the convoy of jeeps the Senator would use to get to the camp.

He then began to scan the camp and then the road, doing this for over three hours and not a moment losing concentration.

He then in the distance spotted a five vehicle convoy. The first two was simple jeeps with a heavy machinegun in the rear.

The vehicle in the middle thou was a car with roof and shaded windows, which marked it as the car the senator would use.

The convoy stopped at the gate to the camp and an armed guard walked over to the first jeep.

The driver and the guard had a brief conversation and then the guard walked over to the gate and opened it. The convoy made their way to the entrance of what was probably the camp HQ.

The jeeps stopped and a tall short chubby man walked over to the middle jeep.

The door to the jeep opened and a short woman walked out. She had black or brown hair, in the green light from the image intensifier he couldn't tell.

She was short maybe 5.5 and had a petite figure, looking to be 20-25. He zoomed in on her face to make sure it was his target.

The woman and the chubby man then began to walk around the compound. They where always moving so he couldn't get clear shot.

The man pointed out and showed the girl the different parts of the installation.

Finally the stopped and the girl turned towards the man and asked something, she had a smile on her lips.

Ranma centred the rifle cross over the right eye of the girl and then held his breath.

The girl was still smiling, unaware of the danger she was in.

He lay completely still.

He slowly pressed the trigger as to not interrupt his aim.

He could feel the recoil of the rifle on his shoulder as it fired.

It took the bullet 3 seconds to travel the 4,5 km to its target.

The girl was still smiling as the 14,5 mm tungsten bullet hit her a little over the right eye.

She didn't feel anything as the round went trough her skull and made the backside of her head explode in a gory fashion.

Her head jerked backwards as the round left her skull, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll, a pool of blood slowly appearing around her head.

Ranma calmly slung his rifle over his shoulder and rolled up the blanket on the ground.

He then walked into the thick jungle, the rain and mist consuming his body, making him disappear like a ghost.

_Another successful mission_ He thought without a sign of happiness or sorrow.

**Authors Notes**

**Q:** Side story?

**A: **I am currently working on the first chapter on the fall of the forerunner. Don't know if I will post it as a side story or as a completely separate story. Only time will tell.

**Q:** Super-super Spartans?

**A: **Yes I know that the Spartans in my story are a little better then the original. But I have tried not to make them to strong, but still giving them a little boost from Ranmas martial arts training. And that's also one of the reasons why Ranma arrived as a six year old child and not after the Saffron incident.

If Ranma had arrived then he could have used the Moko takabisha, yamasen-ken and the umisen-ken and would have been almost unstoppable.

I think I have done it quit well. For example, in the book fall of Reach, Master Chief was able to deflect an incoming rocket with his bare hands (Well in Mjolnir Armour at least), and in the game he was maybe not able to lift it, but he was at least able to flip a 66 tons scorpion tank.

Count in the fact that the in my story the Mjolnir doesn't give the Spartans any speed or strength boost like in the game or books, and the Spartans are just a little better then before.

Basically the Mjolnir it's just a really advanced medieval armour, offers protection, but you will have to carry around the weight.

I just boosted the Spartans capabilities, but made the mjolnir really crapy. So when you compare my Spartans (don't own them Bungie does) and the Spartans in the game, my Spartans (I still don't own Halo or anything associated with it) are just a little better, but not much.

**Q: **The story of Halo 2?

**A**: I will write about what happens after Halo, but because the game comes out first the 8-9 November, I will have to rely on the book first strike and my own assumptions.     

   


	8. The Fall of Reach

**Disclaimer: All series belong to respective owners.  
  
The Halo of the Hero  
  
Chapter 8 The fall of Reach.  
  
Note: Ranma is 17-18 during the fall of Reach, but he looks older due to the augmentations, and acts older due to his training.  
**  
**11 December 2550  
**  
**Reach Military Complex**  
  
Ranma stood in the huge amphitheatre along with the rest of the Spartans. He looked around on the faces of his family, seeing that they only had grown stronger and more determined since he last saw them.  
  
He had been with Kelly, Sam, Linda and Grace onboard the cruiser ATLAS, for over a year, as part of the ODST Marines stationed there, having no contact with the rest of the Spartans.  
  
Then he had been reassigned to the Special Forces as a ghost for about a year, and because the four others had been assigned to different units he was all alone.  
  
He had been extremely isolated under that year, finding it hard to befriend the other soldiers. Sure, he had the usual talk at the mess, played cards with his team and had different games and drinking contests like any other marine but he felt out of place.  
  
Every time he smiled or laughed he did it because he was expected to do it, not because he really felt like it. He knew deep down that he didn't belong there, the other marines were normal people. On the battlefield he felt kinship with the soldiers that fought and died, but once they where back onboard the cruiser he couldn't join in their camaraderie and share their joy.  
  
While the marines became normal humans again, he remained the disciplined soldier.  
  
He let his gaze fall upon every Spartan in the room, locking eyes with some. Their faces were void of any felling except grim determination and the promise of death. Every Spartan had their dress-uniform on, their chests decorated with medals and campaign ribbons.  
  
He also wore the uniform, his chest adorned with every single medal the UNSC had, from the Purple Heart, Wounded in Combat to the famous Medal of Honour, the only medal missing was the Prisoner of War.  
  
He had more medals and ribbons than most generals, but didn't take any pride in them, they just reminded him of the countless lives he had taken, and you didn't take pride in that.  
  
The doors to the room opened and a Captain walked in and along her side Dr Halsey and Dr Izack.  
  
"Officer on the deck" Ranma said and then stood rigidly and gave her a crisp salute.  
  
"At ease soldiers" The captain said.  
  
The Captain and Dr Halsey then walked up to the podium, standing before the gathered Spartans.  
  
Dr Halsey talked into the microphone.  
  
"You have all been separated, spread across the stars fighting the Covenant and renegades that have threatened the UNSC. You have all seen combat, more so than most veterans, and you have all been successful. You are the UNSC best soldiers, not a single casualty among the Spartan ranks and every mission completed successfully. Spread out among the regular ranks of soldiers you have proved yourself time and time again. Alone with normal soldiers you have been successful, now working together with the rest of the Spartans you will be unstoppable."  
  
Dr Halsey looked up and into the eyes of the Spartans.  
  
"Your training is now complete, and now you will begin your service as Spartans."  
  
The Spartans didn't show any emotion or surprise, looking like they had suspected it. Dr Halsey looked slightly taken back by the reaction or lack thereof from the Spartans.  
  
Ranma, and the rest of the Spartans, was quite shocked to find out that the last two years of intense combat was just training. They were surprised yes, but they could understand why, they needed the experience, but they didn't show their surprise.  
  
He saw as Kelly raised an eyebrow, which for a Spartan was quite a sign of emotion, but except that they remained cool and composed.  
  
"The following two months you will go trough an extensive training program to prepare for the last stage of the SPARTAN-II project."  
  
Dr Hasley looked out at the Spartans once again.  
  
"Any questions?" The captain on her side asked.  
  
She didn't really expect any questions but then she saw as one of the Spartans, with his chest full of medals and campaign ribbons, raised a hand.  
  
"Who are you soldier?" The Captain asked.  
  
"Master Chief Petty Officer 1st grade Ranma-One-Seventeen, Captain" The soldier answered.  
  
"And, what is your question?" She asked the man.  
  
"What is the last stage of the SPARTAN-II project?"  
  
The Captain turned towards Dr Halsey and Dr Izack, which in turn pressed a small button and a projector in the roof turned on.  
  
"The last stage is your armour, the MJOLNIR MARK 5. The armour is a full body combat suit, capable of reflecting plasma to a small degree. This armour is the newest in battle-gear, featuring a Heads Up Display or HUD for short, a multi vision goggle, motion tracker and advanced life monitoring equipment." She said and pointed toward the dismantled pieces of the armour.  
  
"But the most important part of the armour is the small fusion reactor and shield generator placed on the back of the armour, which will put you on even ground with the Covenant."  
  
As before the Spartans didn't show any outwards sign of surprise, but inwards they were smiling in anticipation.  
  
"The armour has one major drawback however, without a Spartan in it the weight is 500 kilos. This will decrease your speed and strength before you have gotten used to it, but we think that the protection it offers makes up for the drawbacks."  
  
--------------------  
  
Ranma walked towards their quarters with the rest of the Spartans, felling for the first time in a long while that he was with his own kind.  
  
That didn't mean he let his guard down, a Spartan never did, it was just something that they had learned after years of training with Mendez.  
  
The Spartans walked trough the halls of the base in total silence. The door to their quarters opened with a small hiss.  
  
Ranma threw of his gear on the bunk with his name on it, and then began to unpack his backpack and then placed it in the footlocker. The rest of the Spartans was doing the same.  
  
The last item was a small metal box, which every soldier got. It should contain small personal items and trinkets, like photos and such. The Spartans rarely opened it but none the less they still carried it with them.  
  
Ranmas was filled with photographs of him and his fellows Spartans, going from the early training when he still had the irritating pigtail, then a group photo of all of the 190 Spartans, and then to their last photo before they split up.  
  
On the last they where only 75, a grim reminder of his dead and wounded comrades.  
  
Their training was complete, and they where together again so he thought that it deserved a photo.  
  
"Soldiers, prepare for a reunion photo" Ranma said.  
  
Every soldier looked up from what they where doing and then smiled one of their rare smiles, the one they only showed when they where around the other Spartans.  
  
"Yes Sir" Came the gathered reply.  
  
They where soon standing on three rows and the camera was placed. Ranma pressed the timer and then walked over to his place.  
  
The camera clicked and forever capturing the legendary Spartans on a picture, giving their legacy physical evidence for coming generations to see.  
  
-----------------  
  
Ranma was standing on a small platform, technicians moving around him, fastening the armour to his body.  
  
First on was the skin-tight black jumpsuit with thin flexible armour plates over the vital areas, followed by a pressure suit.  
  
The pressure suit was followed by the different parts of the armour. He could hear a small hiss as the pressure seals connected and closed with each other.  
  
Three technicians were needed to lift the breastplate as they placed in on the Spartan.  
  
They where almost finished, the only thing left was the helmet and the backside armour.  
  
5 men were needed to lift the heavy piece of armour with the fusion reactor and shield generator.  
  
The seals of the armour clicked and the pressure locks hissed as they disposed of unnecessary air, making the armour and the under layer skin- tight.  
  
"You can move now Sir" The lead technician said.  
  
He gave the man a nod, and then flexed his shoulders, trying to get rid of the stiff felling after almost five hours of standing still.  
  
He then slowly walked around the room, trying to get used to the additional 500 kilos of weight. He took the helmet from its place on the desk, only it weighed 50 kilos.  
  
He slid the helm over his head and then locked the seals.  
  
"Now sir we need to activate the fusion core, please sit there." He said.  
  
The technician shivered a little as the man turned towards him. He couldn't see the Spartans eyes, the only thing seen was the reflection of the room around him in the yellow visor.  
  
Ranma nodded slowly and then walked up to the bench and then sat on it.  
  
Two technicians then began to connect the armour to a computer and began to type in some commands.  
  
His enhanced hearing picked up small click and then everything went quiet again. His HUD went on, displaying medical information (green), shield status (offline) and many other things.  
  
"Reactor working with 34,7 efficiency and rising." The tech standing before the computer said.  
  
"Bring the shields online Harry" The lead tech said.  
  
"Powering it up Sir"  
  
Ranma could see a shimmer surround his body and armour, small sparks of yellow light hovering in the air around him. The shield bar climbed slowly then was full. He tried to stand up but it was felling like he was standing on ice. He looked down and saw that he was hovering 1-2 centimetres in the air.  
  
"Sir lower the shields on the underside of your feet via the menu on your HUD"  
  
Ranma did as he was told and was soon standing on solid ground again.  
  
"And you should probably lower your shield at your palms or you won't be able to operate a weapon efficiently."  
  
He mentally accessed the menu once again thanks to his neural implants and lowered the shield.  
  
The door to the chamber opened and in walked Dr. Halsey.  
  
"117, come here please" She said.  
  
Ranma stood up and walked up to her. She stood and looked down on her, hands behind his back.  
  
"As you no doubt can feel the armour is extremely heavy, that's why you and your men will wear it 24/7, to make you get used to it."  
  
He only nodded and then walked past her and out the door.  
  
-------------  
  
He and the rest of the Spartans was slowly doing a kata, slow for Spartans standards at least, to a normal human the kicks and punches came at lighting speed. Everyone was clad in their Mjolnir armour, standing in four rows with enough space between them as to not hit another by accident. They where standing in the 4 gee area to get used to the armours weight.  
  
They where moving in perfect unison, in their armour they looked exactly the same, which made them look like robots to the marines watching them.  
  
Ranma could feel the sweat drip down his face and his pulse quickening. They had been doing extreme training for over 9 hours in the 4 gee area and in their armour which made him a little tired.  
  
But Ranma wasn't complaining, he LOVED this armour. The thing would offer them great protection, would make communication with his team a lot simpler and had the most advanced HUD he had ever seen, and the most important thing it didn't hinder any of his movement. It was like a second skin, it didn't decrease his agility, but unfortunaly it did decrease his speed because of the weight.  
  
Well another months training and we will be as fast as before.  
  
"No slacking off" He said in the intercom.  
  
"Yes sir" Came the reply.  
  
We have two months training, one to get used to the armour and another one to sharpen up our skills.  
  
Ranma had pushed the Spartans and himself to their limits, and then beyond. He knew that he was driving them hard, but it was necessary, the Covenant gained more ground every day and they needed to be prepared.  
  
"You are slacking off, now move it triple time."  
  
He would be damned if the Covenant won this war. He promised himself that, that he never would surrender, never would give up, never would lose this war, mankind depended on it.

------------------------  
  
**August 27 2552 Reach Military Complex**  
  
Ranma and the rest of the 35 soldiers under his command was standing in the amphitheatre, but instead of wearing the dress uniforms as was standard they where wearing the MJOLNIR armour.  
  
The armour was now a part of the Spartans, they only took it off if they needed to do repairs, and only when they weren't around other marines. It was like a second skin to them, they didn't even feel the weight anymore, and they knew the armour inside out, they would be able to put it together in a pitch black room.  
  
The armours had lost their metallic green colour from the constant use and now had a matt olive green colour.  
  
The door to the room opened and in walked an Admiral followed by a Captain and Dr Halsey.  
  
"Officers on the deck" Ranma spoke out so it was heard over the entire room.  
  
Like one the moved and gave them a crisp salute, the admiral and captain answered them. They walked up to the podium, the admiral walking forward and fixed the microphone.  
  
"Good day soldiers, you may wonder why we have recalled you from the frontlines and back to Reach. The answer is simple, we have a new mission for the Spartans. This may well be the most important mission of the war, if you succeed we will end the Covenant threat forever, but it will be hard, tough, and you will fight with the odds against you. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes maam" Came the gathered reply.  
  
"Good, let me introduce Captain Jacob Keyes, which will be your commanding officer during this mission."  
  
She pointed towards the man that was standing behind her, he was in his late forties-early fifties with grey hair around his temples and a rough looking face. The man only nodded to acknowledge her introduction.  
  
"You will leave as soon as the second group of Spartans under the command off Master Chief John-118 arrives at Reach, which will be in about two to three days from now. The mission will be to find and capture a Covenant ship and locate their home world, you will then report back to Reach and we will launch an assault on the planet."  
  
The Spartans all nodded.  
  
"You will be leaving on the ship Pillar of Autumn..."  
  
August 30 2552 Forward observation pod A-12.  
  
Ensign Powell was sitting in the forward Reach observation post scanning slip-space and normal space with probes. This was a quite boring duty, the last 8 months he was stationed here nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and for that he was happy.  
  
Nothing out of the ordinary meant no Covenant.  
  
He leaned back in his chair, a loud crack was heard from his stiff neck as he leaned it to his right.  
  
He scanned the surrounding space but found nothing, he then turned towards the slip-space monitors.  
  
Nothing.  
  
He could hear a small blip and turned towards the screen again. The entire screen was filled with what looked like interferences. He began to scan the area once again just to make sure.  
  
The thing was huge, to huge to be a ship maybe an asteroid, but something seemed awfully familiar about the shape.  
  
He made a cross reference with the computer and the result was printed out. He picked up the paper and read it as a chill went up his spine, he dropped it to the floor as he ran through the room.  
  
He slammed his fist into a small glass case on the wall and pressed the red button underneath.  
  
Red warning lights flashed and the howl of sirens filled the air as Ensign Powell ran to the microphone and pressed the all frequencies button.  
  
"This is forward observation post A-12, we have incoming Covenant. I repeat Covenant inbound. Vector A-1423-Z-2345-Q"  
  
He ran back to his post, the room was slowly being filled with personnel.  
  
Ensign Powell slowly sat at his post a calm expression on his face. He knew that he and the rest of the 14 men onboard the station wouldn't make it, but he knew that every bit of information on the enemy could mean the difference between victory or loss.  
  
May the horror of this war end soon. He though and resumed the scanning, sending everything back to the HQ. 15 minutes later the first Covenant plasma torpedoes struck the pod, incinerating it and its crew.  
  
It wasn't a ship, it was hundreds.  
  
----------------------  
  
Captain Rykov was standing on the bridge aboard the destroyer STUKOV, one of 19 destroyers surrounding Reach. He looked at the main view screen, displayed on it where something he never think he would see, a Covenant fleet in the Reach system.  
  
He mentally went through the current number of Covenant ships and then their own.  
  
Over eight-hundred and fifty Covenant ships including numerous battle cruisers, this was the biggest number of Covenant ships ever to assault a human world.  
  
Their own defences couldn't possibly hope to defeat a fleet so big. 280 ships and twelve of the orbital super MAC where at their disposal, most of the entire human fleet.  
  
A human fleet could possibly win if they outnumbered their enemy three to one, not the other way around.  
  
The purple teardrop shaped crafts where flying straight towards the defenders at full speed, the hulls of the ship glowing with light as the ships charged up their weapon systems.  
  
He could see as the Super MACs fired of their 30 000 tons solid tungsten rounds at the enemy, leaving a trail of light in their wake.  
  
"Status on weapons?"  
  
"All archer missile pods are armed and ready to go sir."  
  
"MAC at 50%, 90 seconds and its ready to fire."  
  
"Give me a target solution."  
  
The Super MAC rounds slammed into the oncoming Covenant ships, going through their shields and gutting the ships like they where simple tin- cans. Twelve hulls of Covenant ships where left floating lifeless in the cold of space. But this didn't stop the remaining ships, they where heading straight towards Reach.  
  
"Sir I am getting a target solution from the AI onboard the SERENITY."  
  
The SERENITY was the flagship of the Reach fleet. Rykov walked over and looked down at the screen.  
  
Every ship in the fleet had gotten their own targets and they would all fire at the same time and then engage at will.  
  
They fired as one, letting lose MAC rounds and archer missiles towards the enemy, the second rounds from the Super MACs following closely behind.  
  
The Covenant ship fired a volley of superheated plasma towards the human defenders.  
  
The MACs and archer missiles it home. Most of the MACs disabled the shields and the archers blew gigantic holes in the armour.  
  
Rykov could see as the plasma torpedoes headed for their fleet and the Super MACs.  
  
They never hit.  
  
Three of the civilian repair crafts began to accelerate, heading past the UNSC fleet and towards the Covenant. The crafts where huge squares, over 5x5 kilometres and while they didn't have any weapons their captains would still put their ships to good use.  
  
The three captains knew that if the Super MACs would be destroyed their defences would crumble. The accelerated to full speed intercepting the incoming plasma, sacrificing themselves and their crew to save the MACs and the UNSC ships.  
  
Rykov could only watch and say a short prayer towards those brave men.  
  
"Break the formation and get me a target solution. Those men gave their lives so we could fire another round, lets not make the death of them be in vain."  
  
The third volleys from the Super MACs gutted another twelve ships.  
  
Now both the Covenant and the UNSC had broken their formations, and engaged each other.  
  
The second volley from the Covenant hit home, reducing a lot of ships to glowing metal.  
  
-------------------  
  
Rykov could only show pride in the way they defended Reach, over 150 of the Covenant ships where totally destroyed, and another 100 where to badly damaged to continue the battle, at the cost of 80 of the UNSC-ships.  
  
Rykov knew that they wouldn't win this battle, but he would make the Covenant pay dearly for every meter of space they took. Rykov and his crew intended to give the Covenant hell.  
  
--------------------  
  
"Sir, we have been able to slow down the Covenant advance thanks to the orbital MACs, but at least ¾ of our fleet is either destroyed or badly damaged."  
  
Admiral Stanforth listened to the report, they had ordered every single ship pull back and protect the twelve Super MACs. Those guns were the only thing standing between the Covenant and the 12 billion civilians on Reach.  
  
Five of the twelve MACs where already destroyed, their defenders fighting to the last man.  
  
Seven rounds left the MACs, scoring seven additional kills. For every UNSC ship that was destroyed a Covenant ship would soon follow, but he knew that even with those odds the Covenant would win, they had simply more ships.  
  
The main screen showed MAC-04 and the half dozen or so ships defending it against the oncoming hordes of Covenant.  
  
One of the Covenant ships managed to breach the perimeter and charged up their weapons.  
  
In response a UNSC destroyer left the formation and headed towards ship.  
  
The Covenant fired their weapons, blue orbs of destruction heading towards the orbital MAC. The UNSC ship fired its own MAC, going through the weakened shields and hitting the reactor.  
  
The UNSC- ship placed itself in the path of the plasma. The plasma struck the underside of the ship, boiling away the armour in an instance.  
  
Stanforth could see as small explosions began to appear on the hull of the ship, a sure sign that the reactors had reached critical levels and was going to explode.  
  
Stanforth knew that the ship was out of action but was surprised as it began to accelerate and head straight towards the Covenant. The ship flew past the smaller ships and headed straight towards on of the 15 battle cruisers in the Covenant armada.  
  
The ship slammed into the broadside of the Covenant ship, making the shields flare blue and the white and finally disappearing. The Covenant ship broke into two pieces while the UNSC ship exploded in a white flash.  
  
The only thing left was some debris floating around, one scorched plate showing the name STUKOV.  
  
Stanforth only shock his head, those men and women had sacrificed themselves for the survival of the civilians on Reach.  
  
"Sir, we have incoming Covenant troop-transports, they are heading for the generators."  
  
Stanforth cursed, while the fleet would be able to keep the Covenant at bay and protect the MACs, they could do nothing to protect the generators powering them.  
  
"Send a message to all ships, ask them for reinforcements."  
  
"Message is on the way sir."  
  
Stanforth just hoped the reinforcements would get there in time.  
  
--------------------  
  
Pillar of Autumn, bridge.  
  
"Sir I am getting a priority alpha order from the SERENITY, the planetary reactors are under assault and they need reinforcements." Cortanas body was glowing purple and red as data flowed across her holographic body.  
  
Captain Keyes turned around towards the AI. He couldn't believe it, the Covenant had attacked Reach, UNSCs most well defended colony after Earth.  
  
"Cortana, prepare the Spartans for aerial insertion, they are needed at those reactors."  
  
"The first group of Spartans are already geared up and waiting in hangar bay-2 for their orders, and the second group arrived in system half an hour ago and are already inbound towards the reactor."  
  
"Send them in" Was Keyes only reply.  
  
"Giving the orde..."  
  
"Sir the civilian vessel Circumference hasn't activated the Cole protocol, and numerous Covenant dropships are heading towards the station where it's docked."  
  
"Destroy the ship immediately." If the Covenant found the data they would find the remaining human colonies  
  
"Cant get a clear shoot, they are to near the MACs."  
  
"Cortana, order a group of Spartans to destroy the data base."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
-------------------  
  
Ranma walked into hangarbay-2 where the rest of the Spartans where going through their gear. As the Spartans saw him they stopped and turned towards him waiting for their orders. He had talked with Cortana, a special AI with computer hacking skills which would have helped them during their mission to capture a Covenant ship.  
  
Now it looked like the mission was cancelled because the Covenant attack.  
  
"The planetary reactors powering the super MACs are under Covenant attack, second team has already landed and secured a perimeter and we will drop in and reinforce their positions. Unfortuneally a civilian vessel docked at the P-24 station have neglected to follow Cole protocol and whip their database clean. We are sending in a small team to destroy it. Intel says the resistance will be heavy, numerous Covenant ships are already on approach. All power on the station is destroyed so it will be zero gee."  
  
The Spartans stood still listening to their commander. Everyone knew that the mission to the station would be the most dangerous, while all Spartans had experience in fighting in zero gee it was with dirt beneath their feet and with real gravity that the Spartan excelled in combat.  
  
"Sir, request that I am allowed to take the mission to the station." While every Spartan looked the same in their armour to an outsider, Ranma could see at once who whom was because of their stances, and the speaker was James.  
  
Ranma knew that every Spartan would gladly take the dangerous mission, not to prove that they where brave but to make sure that the others had a bigger chance to survive.  
  
"Request denied, I, Kelly and Sam are going, you James will lead the second team and meet up with Johns squad at the generator."  
  
"SIR YES SIR" Came the gathered reply.  
  
-------  
  
The two pelicans took of the first heading towards the planet and the other towards the space station. Ranma adjusted the thrusters making sure they were on course.  
  
During the space-battle an archer missile had struck the station and hit the main power cable, shutting down everything including life-support, communication and artificial gravity.  
  
He could see tiny dots a purple, Covenant crafts heading towards the station.  
  
In the distance he could see the hulking frame of the 4,5 kilometre long orbital Super MAC. He could see a flash and the MAC fired a lance of light towards oncoming Covenant warships.  
  
"ETA 30 seconds, prepare for venting."  
  
He brought the pelican next to the station, the magnets on the underside of the pelican attached to the station a 20 feet from an airlock.  
  
"Hold on, venting atmosphere now."  
  
The back hatch of the pelican blew away, sucking out all air in a matter of milliseconds.  
  
He floated out of the pelican towards the airlock, followed closely by Kelly and Sam. He checked the small panel on the airlock. The status showed green, meaning that the back-up batteries where online. He pressed correct combination and the doors opened.  
  
"Incoming Covenant forces." Sam said with a calm voice.  
  
Ranma turned around, 300 metres or so from the station he could see a group of twenty elites in spacesuits coming straight towards them.  
  
Kelly opened fire with her sniper rifle, the 14,5 mm tungsten round punched trough the shield and the suit, the elite clawing at the tear before finally dieing.  
  
Ranma opened fire with his MA5B assault rifle, the rifle not making a single noise in the vacuum of space, only the flashes indicating that it was used at all. Twenty rounds were needed before the shield was down and then a single bullet was enough to rupture the suit.  
  
To his side he could see as Kelly fired her rifle, for every flash an elite would go still.  
  
"Pull back into the station." Ranma said as he fired off his last round and ejected the spent clip and injected a new one into the rifle.  
  
The twenty elite where dead, but he could see as more made their way towards the station.  
  
He pressed the panel and the door shut. He looked into the map in the station on his HUD and then placed a nav-marker on his and his fellow Spartans HUDs. It was a good 2,5 kilometres to their target.  
  
He began to float down one of the corridors, Kelly and Sam following behind.  
  
The entire station was dead, no lights, no gravity no air.  
  
---------------  
  
They had only five hundred metres left when their communications crackled to life.  
  
"Master... John ... Covenant...everywhere... ships...income..." They had a bad transmission almost unable to hear what he said.  
  
"John this is Ranma what's your current status?"  
  
"...Defence...imiter...breached..." In the background they could hear the rattle of automatic rifles firing and plasma screeching.  
  
"John this is Ranma do you copy?"  
  
"...we... late... unable...   
  
"John, do you copy over?"  
  
"... reactor... fallen... request... inforcemnts...bombard..."  
  
"John what is happening down there?"  
  
"lost...pulling back...nuke...strike...approve..."  
  
"John we are losing you, what is happening down there?"  
  
"... Reach...s... fall...w ... fight... end...evac...civilians..." The com fell silent, only simple crackle could be heard.  
  
"Let's continue." Ranma knew that whatever had happened groundside was bad, really bad.  
  
He couldn't think of that now, he had a mission to complete.  
  
-------------  
  
"Fire!" Ranma yelled and let lose on full automatic, blasting away the Covenants helm. He clawed at his face for a second and then went still.  
  
Ranma put a bullet in his skull for good measure. He looked around in the corridor, only finding corpses and the two other Spartans.  
  
They helped to open the final door to the hangar bay where the CIRCUMFERENCE where docked. The entire bay was filled with Covenant, some where working on opening the hatch to the ship.  
  
The Spartans couldn't possibly hope to defeat all the Covenant in the bay, but then Ranma saw a pelican in one corner.  
  
"Get the pelican and give me some covering-fire. I will take care of the data."  
  
---------  
  
"Sir, MAC 2,4,7,5 are offline, we can't keep a stable defence line."  
  
"Those Spartans kept them up longer then predicted... how is the evacuation going."  
  
Admiral Stanforth didn't like how this was going, another 15 minutes and there wouldn't be much left of their fleet.  
  
"Bad, we estimate that over 11 billion civilians are still left on Reach and we are running out of ships to evacuate them with."  
  
"How many military vessels are left?"  
  
"62 sir."  
  
"Sir, the rest of the MACs went offline."  
  
The ship shock violently and Admiral Stanforth fell to the deck. The screen and light in the bridge flickered for a moment before returning to normal.  
  
"Sir, a plasma torpedo hit us, engines and weapons are offline."  
  
Stanforth sighed, now they where a sitting duck.  
  
"Admiral the last line of defence is breached."  
  
"Order the crew to abandon the ship and the rest of the fleet to retreat from Reach."  
  
"But sir... the civilians..."  
  
Stanforth pointed towards the main view screen. Ten Covenant cruisers where charging up their weapons, but not towards the fleet they aimed for Reach.  
  
The young ensign sighed.  
  
"Sir yes sir."  
  
-------------  
  
The pelicans 50mm chain guns filled the air with metal death, blowing the Covenant to pieces.  
  
Ranma leaped from behind his position and ran like the hounds of hell was chasing him, which wasn't so far from the truth, a pair of hunters where trying to clobber him to the ground.  
  
The chain gun changed target, taking care of both hunters, their orange blood flying everywhere.  
  
He slammed his fist unceremonially into the panel and the hatch opened.  
  
The ship was small, 50 metres or so, and finding the bridge was easy.  
  
The data cube was located by the main view screen. He ripped the metal protecting the cube away with his augmented strength. He crushed the cube in his fist, turning it into thousands of shards.  
  
"Sir get out of there now, we have numerous Covenant inbound.  
  
He ran out of the craft and was about to jump into the pelican, when three yellow dots appeared on his HUD. The HUD showed that the where about a hundred metres or so from their position.  
  
"I have some marines on my HUD."  
  
"Sir we can't hold this position any longer."  
  
"Return to the Autumn, I will take care of it."  
  
"Sir..."  
  
"Do it now soldier."  
  
"Sir yes sir."  
  
Ranma saw as the pelican engines lit up and it flew out of the hangar bay. He turned towards the corridor leading to the marines shouldering his rifle.  
  
Red dots had begun to appear around the yellow ones.  
  
----------------  
  
The pillar of Autumn had gotten orders to pull back out from the fight and to pick up some of the marines that had managed to get off Reach alive. There wasn't much of a battle now, the UNSC-ships had begun to pull back, playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Covenant.  
  
Cortana couldn't believe the stupidity of the Covenant sometimes, they had extremely advanced ships, superior weapons, and in general more advanced technology, but they had zero grasp of strategy and tactics.  
  
The usual plan of the Covenant was to fly right in and attack, to pull back and regroup seemed like an alien concept to them. They didn't have much of formations, just flying right in and shoot.  
  
But Cortana didn't complain, it was one of the few things humanity was superior in.  
  
Tactics and computer skills where the only two areas in which they could go toe to toe with the Covenant.  
  
Her scanners didn't pick up any enemy ships within firing range.  
  
Because of this Cortana didn't even need to use one tenth of her processor capacity to monitor the battle and make corrections in the flight-path of the Autumn, so she decided to access the Spartan-II files to see what they could do exactly.  
  
She only found the mission logs, no names, no birth records, nothing. She then tried to access the restricted files, she was an AI built for computer- hacking so it didn't prove any difficulties to access them.  
  
She found everything, the abductions, flash-clones, the training, augmentations, the two years of combat with the different military units, her ethical routines didn't like what she saw.  
  
She then began to go through the personal files of the Spartans and she stopped by number 117.  
  
Before the Spartan program there didn't exist any record of him at all, no date of birth, no parents, no birthplace, nothing.  
  
There weren't any hidden files, it just stood that they couldn't determine who he was. She continued down the files.  
  
Cortana knew that something was wrong, there was something special about 117, and she began to sort through every little piece of information determined to find out what it was.  
  
There she found it, when she had read the bit of information, she stopped everything she was doing for three whole seconds, she couldn't believe it...  
  
------------------  
  
The grenade bounced around the corner and exploded in a huge flame, sending shrapnel everywhere.  
  
He checked the ammo-counter on the rifle making sure he had enough ammo.  
  
He peeked around the corner, the only thing seen was the floating bodies of Covenant.  
  
Making sure they where dead and then continued down the corridor. He could see the plasma burns on the walls and spent shell casing floating around. He pushed the body of a dead marine in a spacesuit away to make room.  
  
At the end of the corridor he could see a half closed blast door. One of the corners where molten so it was unable to close it further.  
  
His HUD showed that the three soldiers were in there. Now that he was near them the HUD displayed their names and rank. Sergeant Avery J. Johnson, PFC Wallace C. Jenkins and PFC Kim S. Edenberg.  
  
"This is Sergeant Johnson, who the hell are you soldier?"  
  
"Master Chief Ranma-one-seventeen, Spartan-II." He replied with a calm voice.  
  
"A Spartan? well thanks for the timely rescue Master Chief.  
  
Three heads popped up from the blast door, and once they confirmed that he was speaking the truth they kicked off and floated towards him.  
  
"There is a pelican a hundred metres or so from here, let's go."  
  
"We are right behind you Master Chief."  
  
---------  
  
He flew the pelican towards the Autumn, skilfully evading incoming fire. He could see ten teardrop shaped crafts brake through the defences and head towards Reach. Most of the fleet was retreating, and he could see that the MACs had fallen silent.  
  
The Covenant was slowly gathering around Reach.  
  
------------------  
  
Cortana accessed the data from one of the relics from Moln, aside from the blueprints for the genetic modifications there was something else.  
  
A long flow of different symbols that they couldn't decipher, she tried everything, but couldn't decipher it either. She was about to leave it when she got a data flow from the Serenity, they should follow Cole protocol and make a blind jump out of the system.  
  
Then she got the idea and compared the symbols and her starmap and got a 78% match.  
  
It was slip-space coordinates.  
  
---------------------------  
  
"Master Chief, would you please report to the bridge." It was Cortanas voice over the speakers.  
  
He stepped into the lift together with a few techs. Out of the corner off hid eyes he could see as the men stared at him, in his armour he looked almost as alien as the Covenant.  
  
Part machine, part alien, no human.  
  
He mentally chuckled to himself at that thought, he wondered how much of his humanity he still had left in him after the augmentations and training.  
  
He didn't regret it either, now he had a purpose in life, to serve and protect mankind. The time with Genma and his mother back on Earth was like a dream, almost forgotten and very unclear.  
  
As far as he was concerned he didn't have any parents, the only family he had was the Spartans.  
  
He stepped out off the lift and walked the short distance to the bridge.  
  
"Master Chief, I have bad news." Captain Keyes stood and watched out of the main view window.  
  
"Sir?" He asked in his deep voice.  
  
"The reactors have fallen and then we have lost contact with the ground- teams."  
  
He felt a stab of pain in his chest, almost all the Spartans where down there, and he knew that if the reactors had fallen Reach would soon follow. And then came guilt, he had though that the he had given the others the easy mission but that wasn't the case. He should have been down there with the others.  
  
"Sir if the reactors has fallen then the Spartans down there are dead." He knew that the Spartans would defend it to the last man.  
  
Keyes only nodded and then sighed.  
  
"The pelican with the other two Spartans never made it Chief"  
  
Another wave of guilt and pain washed over him, he had ordered them to return to the Autumn earlier.  
  
"I understand." He said without any emotion.  
  
"The Covenant has put our fleet on the run, and are going to glass **(1)** the planet any minute now."  
  
He looked out of the window, the ten cruiser where slowly charging up their weapons. In a blue flash the cruiser let lose a barrage of blue plasma.  
  
The first wave hit the polar caps, boiling away the white snow, leaving a black landscape which was lit up by a spider-web of red flames.  
  
The next wave boiled away the oceans, leaving only a small strip of untouched land at the equator.  
  
The final wave hit the equator, leaving the once mighty world of Reach, home of billions and the UNSC main military complexes, a black sphere of glass.  
  
Ranma looked on as billions died before his eyes, and among them his family.  
  
He was the last.  
  
------------------  
  
"So the data was slip-space coordinates."  
  
It was very tempting to use them and see where they lead.  
  
Cole protocol says that we have to avoid all human space, but this isn't near Earth.  
  
With her mind made up Cortana began to prepare for a slip-space jump  
  
---------------------  
  
"Sir, the rest of the fleet has entered slip-space." An ensign checking the scanners said.  
  
"Well then, lets to the same. Cortana prepare for a jump."  
  
"Already done sir."  
  
The lumbering hulk of the Pillar of Autumn began to accelerate, her hull badly damaged in numerous places.  
  
Within the armoured giant the Master Chief, the last Spartan, lay in cryo- sleep.  
  
The space around the Autumn seemed to fold and soon the ship disappeared to an unknown location for every one except the AI.  
  
**Authors Notes  
**  
**It took a little longer to finish this then expected, I had a huge writers block. Every time I tried to write something I just ended up staring at the screen for hours.  
  
(1) It's when the Covenant destroys a planet. Their plasma burns away everything including the atmosphere, making the planet a black sphere of glass  
  
Q: A Ranma story without fiancée problems?  
  
A: Well I have some ideas, but I think I will wait with the romantic stuff till after the war.  
  
Hmm... wonder how Akane and the rest of the NWC would react to a Ranma that wouldn't hesitate to seriously injure a girl or even kill an opponent.  
  
"Obstacles are for Amazon to kill!"  
  
Click... BANG! BANG! BANG!  
  
"Ouch... Maybe not"  
  
Q: Jusenkyo curse?  
  
A: No I am not going to give Ranma a Jusenkyo curse. He wouldn't survive it, all of his combat implants would probably shred his body from the inside out during the change.  
  
Q: Hellsing crossover?  
  
A: Only time will tell.  
  
Big thanks for Madrikor for pre-reading this **


	9. Halo

**Dontsueme-Productions proudly presents…  THE DISCLAIMER! (Be afraid, be very afraid)**

One man tried to use something that didn't belong to him.

They found out.

He was sentenced to MANY years in prison for copyright intrusion.

After fifty years he is free… "Stupid disclaimer… mumble…forgot once… mumble… destroy… mumble…****

So what do you learn of this?

"That the series/movies/games/books displayed within this fan-fic doesn't belong to me… HONEST!

**THE DISCLAIMER will come to a cinema near you this fall.**

**The Halo of the Hero**

**Chapter 9 Halo**

The damaged form of the Pillar of Autumn was slowly gliding through space, numerous longsword interceptors swarming around it. In the distance a huge ring-like structure was floating in space. On the inside they could see blue seas and green forests. Whatever it was it wasn't made by the Covenant.

"Cortana all I need to know is did we lose them." Captain Keyes was stressed, but didn't let it show, the only evidence was that he was fidgeting with his grandfathers' pipe. He didn't smoke, it would be against every major UNSC-regulation to do so.

"I think we both know the answer to that." Cortana said with a sigh.

"We made a blind jump, how did they…" The stress was now evident in his voice.

"Get here first? The Covenant ships have always been faster. And as for tracking us all the way from Reach, at light-speed my manoeuvring options where limited." Cortana completed the sentence with shrug.

"So we where a running duck, yes?" Captain Keyes asked the AI.

Captain Keyes walked away from the main view screen and looked over the shoulder of one of the ensigns.

"Until we decelerated, no one could have missed the hole we tore in sub-space. They where waiting on the far side of the planet." Cortana answered.

Captain Keyes sighed, he had hoped that the Covenant wouldn't follow once they left Reach.

"So where do we stand?" Captain Keyes asked, he knew that they where in some serious trouble.

"Our fighter are mopping up the last of their recon-ticket now, nothing serious, but I have isolated the approach signature of multiple CCS-class battle groups, make that three capital ships per group, and in about ninety second they will be all over us."

"Well that's it then, bring the ship back to combat alert alpha, I want everyone at their stations." The stress was gone, replaced by determination.

"Everyone sir?" Cortana asked.

"_Everyone_, and Cortana…"

"Yes?"

"Let's give our old friends a warm welcome." Keyes closed his eyes dangerously.

"I've already begun" Was Cortanas simple answer.

------------------

**Hangar bay-7**

"_All combat personnel please report to your action station._ Cortanas calm voice filled the bay from the speakers.

The bay was filled with activity, numerous pelican drop ships where loading up soldiers and vehicles, and then flew into their airlocks.

_"This is not I drill, I repeat this is not a drill, thirty seconds until Covenant contact, to all UNSC-combat personnel we are reengaging the enemy."_

Sergeant Avery J. Johnson walked towards the group of marines, weapon safety off and fully loaded clip inserted.

_"Twenty-second tactical rendezvous with fourteenth platoon at bulkhead Charlie-13.  _

_"_You heard the lady, move like you got a purpose!" He yelled in an angry voice.

The thirty or so marines stood in two rows facing each other. Johnson walked in the middle of the two rows.

"Men, we led those dumb bugs out into the middle of nowhere to keep them from getting their FILTHY claws on Earth, but we stumbled on to something their so hot for they will scramble over you eggheads to get it. Well I don't care if its gods own Anti-Sonuva-Bitch-Machine or a giant hula-hoop, we will not let them have it, what we will let them have is a belly full of lead and a pool of their own blood to drown in."

Johnson made a pause in his pep-talk.

"AM I RIGHT MARINES?"

"SIR YES SIR" Came the vicious yell from the marines.

"Hmm… Damn right I am, now move along, DOUBLE TIME!"

The marines nodded and then took off, running towards the pelicans.

_"Warning external and internal contact is imminent."_ Cortanas voice was calm and collected as always.

"For all you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close… this is going to be your lucky day."  

----------------------------

_Alpha clearance Cortana to Cryo-crew Unseal the hushed casket_

"Sir?" Ensign Harris asked as he saw the message.

The commanding officer looked over the ensigns' shoulder and read the message.

"Alright let's thaw him up." He said and began to type on a key board.

"Low level systems online, cracking the case in thirty seconds."

The four security seals on the cryo-tube opened and an audible hiss was heard as the pressure in the tube and in the bay equalised.

"He is hot, health monitors are green, no freezer-burns."

 A thick spray of mist was shot out of the tube as it opened, making it impossible to see the armoured body of the last Spartan-II.

An armoured gauntlet came out of the mist, followed closely be the entire 7,5 feet, 680 kilo Spartan-II.

_"Cryo-2, this is Captain Keyes, send the Master Chief to the bridge immediately"_

"Better hurry, the skipper seems choppy."

-----------------------  

A group of three marines was guarding the entrance to the bridge, their rifles trained on him as he entered their line of sight. They stared in awe for a couple of seconds, before realising that they were standing in the way of him. They quickly parted, they didn't want to piss of a Spartan.

"Master Chief, the Captain is waiting for you sir."

He only nodded, walking down the corridor and into the bridge.

He could se as the bridge crew took a quick look at him before returning to their work. UNSC-propaganda had elevated the Spartans to godlike status, telling about their 100% mission success.

He walked up to the main screen where he saw Captain Keyes survey the battle. Out the windows he could see a ring-shaped construct floating around.

"Captain Keyes" He said with a deep, emotionless voice.

"Good to see you Master Chief, things aren't going well. Cortana did her best, but we never really had a chance.

"Three dozen superior Covenant battleships against a single Halcyon-class cruiser. With those odds I am content with three… make that four kills. Sleep well?" Cortana was calm, and you could hear the pride in her voice.

"No thanks to your driving, yes" He said with a hint of humour that only the AI detected.

"So you _did_ miss me?" She said with a smirk.

He didn't get the time to answer because an explosion rocked the ship. Captain Keyes grabbed onto the main screen for support.

"Report!" He yelled as he stood back up.

"It must have been one of their boarding parties, my guess is an anti-matter charge." Cortana said, the calm in her voice gone.

The fire control officer turned towards Cortanas hologram.

"Maam, fire control for the main cannon is offline."

A frown appeared on her face.

"Sir the cannon was my last defensive option."

Keyes looked out on the ring, and sighed.

"All right, I am initiating Cole protocol, Article Two. We are abandoning the Autumn. That means you too Cortana."

"While you do what, go down with the ship?" Cortana shot back.

Keyes turned towards the window and pointed at the ring.

"In a manner of speaking. The object we found I am, I am going to try and land the Autumn on it.

"With all due respect, this war has enough _dead _heroes."

Keyes turned towards Cortana.

"I appreciate your concern Cortana but it's not up to me. The protocol is clear. The destruction or capture of a shipboard AI is absolutely unacceptable. That means you are abandoning the Autumn. Lock in a selection of emergency landing zones and upload them to my neural lace."

The Ai was silent for three seconds.

"Aye aye sir."

"Which is where you come in Chief. Get Cortana off this ship. Keep her safe from the enemy. If they capture her they will learn everything, force deployments, weapons research…"

Keyes made a pause.

"…Earth."

"I understand" He said simply.

Keyes looked at Cortana.

"Are you ready?"

Cortana looked around on the bridge. She didn't like the fact that she was leaving the Autumn, because it was her physical body. She sighed.

"Yank me."

Keyes nodded and pressed a couple of controls. Cortanas hologram disappeared, and a small data-disk ejected from the panel. Keyes handed the disk to Ranma.

"Good luck Master Chief."

Ranma picked up Cortanas disk and placed it in the slot on the back of his neck. He felt a quick stab of pain in his head and then a cold liquid feeling as if someone had dumped a glass of cold water in his head.

He could feel as the liquid coldness began to spread out in head. Soon he could hear Cortana speak, but it came from inside his mind.

"Hmm… Your inner architecture isn't that much different from the Autumns.

"Don't get any funny ideas." Ranma said as he turned and left the bridge.

----------------------------

"_This is the Captain speaking, all hands abandon ship. Will all personnel please proceed to nearest lifeboat. Keyes out."_

"You heard the man, pull back your lazy asses." Johnson yelled as he fired of another burst towards the Covenant. He could hear the battle cry of an elite.

Johnson calmly pulled out the pin of a M9-HE-DP grenade. He rolled it under the shield of a Jackal and took great joy in seeing it, the Jackal and the furious elite explode.

He took of in a sprint towards the lifeboats, plasma searing through the air.

He dove into the small bumblebee lifeboat and could hear the hiss as the airlock closed. He quickly strapped himself in a seat and half a second later the pod ejected from the ship at high speed. The small pod took of towards the huge ring like structure.

"What is it sarge?" A marine said and pointed at it.

Johnson took a good look at ring. He wasn't a tech-goon, but one thing he could tell, it wasn't Covenant. Whatever it was, the Covenant seemed to guard it like hawks.

"Trouble." He said simply and ejected the almost empty clip and injected a new.

An audible Ka-Ching was heard as a cartridge was loaded into the barrel.

"Big trouble."

-------------------------------

"There is one last lifeboat, quickly get aboard before it launches." Cortana said in worry.

He took off towards the lifeboat, letting lose on full auto at the Covenant that threatened to enter the craft. He could see a marine run and fall as an explosion rocked the ship. He was lying on the deck, too scared to get up.

"Now would be a _very _good time to leave." Cortana almost screamed.

Holding the rifle in one hand and shooting at the Covenant, he grabbed the fallen marine by the belt, lifted him up and threw him into the pod. He backed into the pod, still shooting.

"Punch it" He said as his final clip went dry.

"Aye aye sir." The pilot said as she started the engines.

The hatch closed and a couple of flames were seen as the thrusters went into overdrive. Ranma stood, one hand holding onto a steal pipe.

"Sure you don't rather take a seat?" Cortana said a little worried.

"We will be fine." Ranma said emotionless as ever, doing nothing to ease the AI fears.

The pilot triggered the launch sequence, and the pod blasted away from the cruiser, flying on column of fire. The boat flew past the Autumn, plasma blasts and pulse lasers slammed into the hull of the cruiser.

"We are disengaged, going for minimum sight distance.

The boat fell away from the Autumn, heading for the ring.

"The Autumn!" Came a terrified yell from one of the marines.

Ranma looked back and could see the huge ship speed up and fly past them.

"I knew it, the Autumn she's accelerating. Keyes is going in manual."

"We can't do anything about it now Cortana." Ranma said with the same emotionless voice.

He could see as the Autumn began to enter the atmosphere, the underside of the hull glowing red. Soon it disappeared from sight, the only thing seen was the huge ringworld

"What the hell is that thing lieutenant?" A marine asked as he pointed to the ring.

"Hell if I know, but we are landing on it." The pilot said.

-----------------------------------------------

Noselee Isnae stood in a shadow on the human-bridge, his active camouflage making him completely invisible.

He had been ordered by the mighty prophets to work as a "Gods Eye", a task he didn't like.

They where supposed to monitor a battle without interfering, trying to gain intelligence from the primitive human.

He had forfeited the chance of killing over a dozen of those lesser beings, losing much honour, by following the will of the prophets. But they told him he had their blessings and that he would gain much honour so he didn't question their commands.

He wished he could complete his mission so he could return to his battle brothers. His mission was to find either the senior members of the crew or their AI.

That inferior race had been successful in hiding their data from their blessed AI, so finding the humans pathetic AI was of the utter importance.

They would then be able to find the humans home world "_errt_" and destroy the source of those vermin. If he found the location of their AI he would gain much honour, maybe even so to be elevated to the status of "battle master".

He looked as a human he had identified as their ship master, a man named "_Keez"_ said something in their guttural language. His armours translator cracked to life and talked in the blessed voice of the prophets.

"Begin to land the vessel on the ring world."

"Yes shipmaster."

Noselee felt the anger boil up within him. How dare the lowly vermin defile the sacred grounds with their unclean machinery. He levelled his plasma rifle and pointed it towards one of the many humans littering the place. He would kill the crew and capture the ship master, and in the process gain much honour.

--------------------------------

"Entering ring atmosphere in five!" The pilot yelled as small flames began to appear on the window.

"We are going to make it sir? I don't wanna die out here." A scared marine said as he held his hands tight over the straps on his seat.

Ranma just patted the man on the shoulder, intending to ease his fears.

The small flames turned into a burning inferno.

"If I still had fingers they would be crossed!" Cortana said, and Ranma got the impression she closed her eyes or the AI version of eyes.

"Damn I blew to early, WE ARE COMING IN TO FAST." The pilot yelled the last part as she tried to get the craft to slow down.

"PREPARE FOR IMPACT!" The pilot said and covered her face with her hands.

He could feel as the craft hit the ground and then everything went black.

--------------------------------

"Sergeant we have incoming!" Private Mendoza yelled and opened fire. Numerous plasma bolts flew through the air, but miraculously none hit a marine.

"Pull back into the compound." Johnson said and opened fire on a pack of grunts sticking their head up from behind a rock.

The pod had crashed in a valley, and as soon as they stepped foot outside the emergency pod Covenant dropships had appeared. The purple crafts had unloaded a good dozen or so troops each.

They had been badly outnumbered so they began to run, and so they had done for the last three hours, until they came across some strange tower. Everyone was exhausted, beyond imagination, but if the slowed down the Covenant would surely catch up.

Johnson was just glad they didn't have any banshees after them or this run would have been over a long time ago. 

He flung a grenade over his shoulder, in hope of slowing down the Covenant. He stopped as he came near the structure, the building was perhaps 20 feet tall, and the only way up on the top was with a staircase on the outside of the building.

"PULL BACK" he yelled as he opened fire towards an elite. The thing roared and charged, intending to end his life with a swift blow with the plasma rifle.

Johnson backed away, still shooting against the alien, but the bullets was just absorbed by the shields. His rifle went dry, and he dropped it and reached for his pistol.

The alien tried to club him with his rifle, but the years of experience made him throw himself backwards. The alien missed only with an inch. The alien stepped back and was about to fire   his plasma rifle when his head exploded in a purple cloud. Johnson, still lying on the ground, could see as a Spartan-II emerged from some bushes. In his hands a S2AM Sniper rifle.

The Spartan fired once again, and Johnson could see as another elite dropped.

Another round and this time a jackal bit the grass.

The final round in the clip was fired on an elite that was about to throw an ignited plasma grenade at a couple of marines. Well he didn't get the chance, he dropped with the ignited plasma grenade still in his claw. It exploded and incinerated two grunts that go to close.

Ranma dropped the sniper rifle and picked up a MA5B assault rifle from a dead marine.

By now the UNSC-personnel had managed to get atop the building, providing covering fire from their elevated position.

Two elites shifted their aim from the humans defending the building towards the Master Chief.

Ranma tried to avoid so many of the plasma blasts as possible, seeming to flow around them while shooting with his newly acquired MA5B-assualt rifle.

Together with the fire coming from the building the two elites, and the half dozen grunts following them, were dealt with quite effectively.

Sergeant Johnson walked over to the Ranma.

"Thanks for your help Chief, until you showed up I thought we where cocked."

Ranma didn't get time to reply because his radio crackled to life.

_"This is pelican Echo-Four-Nineteen, does anyone hear me? Any UNSC-personnel please respond."_

"Is that you Foehammer? This is the fourteenth-platoon, or what left of it." Johnson said into his microphone.

_"Good to hear from you fourteenth, I am inbound."_

Ranma could hear the whining of engines, but once they passed over there heads they could see that it wasn't a pelican. It was three bumblebee escape pods.

"Warning Chief, I have multiply Covenant dropships trailing the pods. When they land the Covenant will be right on top of them."

Another whining of engines that was stronger alerted them to the arrival of E-419.

"Foehammer we need you to disengage your warthog. The Chief and I are going to see if we can save some soldiers.

_"I copy that"_

Johnson looked as the armoured craft hovered in the air before him. He looked down, in his hands where the dog-tags of 18 soldiers that hadn't made it. They where 26 six when they had left the Autumn.

Johnson could see as the Chief climbed aboard the jeep and started up the engine. He handed the pouch with the dog-tags to an ensign that was climbing aboard the pelican.

He ejected the almost empty clip in his rifle and then injected a new one. He ran up to the jeep as it was beginning to roll away and jumped into the back, manning the M41-LAAG.

"Thanks for the help sergeant." Cortana said over the comm-channel.

"Hey, you pulled my ass out of the fire, I intend to pay you back." He said as he scanned the surrounding area for hostiles.

-----------------------------------------

"That's the last of them. Good work marines." Cortanas voice came once again over the comm.-channels.

Sergeant Johnson released the trigger on the M41-LAAG, but continued to scan the area after potential hostiles.

"_This is E-419, I hear you and I am on my way."_

Ranma could see as the rest of the marines visibly relaxed, but he still kept his sharp. The end of a mission was probably the most dangerous, it was when you became relaxed and sloppy, and if the Covenant attacked now the marines wouldn't know what hit them.

During his time in the ODST, he had seen as an elite had snuck upon a landing pelican dropship, and had thrown in a plasma grenade that killed everyone in it. That happened just because the marines didn't pay attention.

"Sir?" Cortana said in his mind.

He cut all external communication.

"Yes Cortana." Ranma said as he surveyed the area on last time before jumping into the waiting pelican.

"I have located the Pillar of Autumns crash site, it crashed eight-hundred kilometres up-spin."

"Understood." Ranma said.

"Wait incoming Covenant transmission… Can't believe those Covenant fools, they aren't using any encryption."

Ranma looked out of the pelicans rear hatch, making sure there weren't any Covenant snipers around.

"The Covenant has located it and… they captured Captain Keyes." Cortana said a little worried.

Ranma didn't say anything, without a high ranking officer there would be considerable problems in the resistance against the Covenant.

-------------------------------------------

"The Covenant has captured Captain Keyes and brought him to their cruiser the Truth and Reconciliation. The ship was damaged during the fight above the ring and it is holding position above a desert plateau." Cortana said as she briefed the marines on their coming mission.

Ranma just sat silent and thought back. After the crash he had found out he was the only survivor, and numerous Covenant dropships where inbound. He had managed to avoid the patrols until he had stumbled over a squad of marines defending against some Covenant.

After he helped the marines he had fought for over twelve hours to get to the other emergency pods. After he got back to HQ he had gotten three hours of rest before they send him out on this mission.

"So how are we getting inside the ship? Unless they had issued us rifles with wings I think that will become a problem."

"There is a gravity lift that will lead us to the middle of the ship." Cortana said.

--------------------------------

Ranma looked over the cliff. It wasn't hard to spot the gravity lift, a ten meter metal disk that emitted a purple beam up to the Covenant cruiser hovering two-hundred metres into the air kind of gave it away.

Surrounding the lift was a three shade plasma guns, and a good thirty Covenant. He looked back on the marines, they were 12 left from the 20 that had landed.

"Sergeant tell your men to spread out and aim for the turrets, I will take care of the elites."

The lift was located in a small valley a hundred metres across, to the north there was a cliff with a 40 meter drop, both the west and the east side was a step wall that went together and formed a small path to the south. Two of the turrets were located at the small entrance to the south and the other was overlooking the small camp from the north.

They had thought that if an attack would come, it would come from the easy accessible path, not from the hard climbed mountain walls.

Ranma moved into a position so he could fire. The S2AM sniper rifle was one of the few weapons, except explosives, that could take out a shielded elite with one round. The rifle was from the beginning meant to take out lightly armoured vehicles, but was soon adopted as sniper rifle by the marines. Being almost double the length of the MA5B assault rifle it looked more like a small cannon then anything else.

Right now Ranma wished he had a BIG cannon for his disposal.

He placed the cross slightly over the eye of a red armoured elite, the highest ranking Covenant present.

Even trough the Mjolnir armour he could feel the recoil from the weapon. The head of the elite exploded in blue cloud of gore, the body falling limply to the sandy ground.

After half a second he could hear the rattle of automatic weapons firing, tearing apart all grunts near the turrets. The sustained fire made one of the turrets explode in a purple plasma ball.

He shifted his aim, blowing of the head of another elite.

The Covenant had begun to shoot blindly around, more often then not killing their own soldiers.

He fired another round, but this one was sloppy compared to the rest, the elite falling to the ground clutching his stomach.

His last round he aimed at a jackal, which had fired dangerously close to some of the marines positions.

Ranma slammed a new clip into his rifle, aiming at one of the last elites. Half a second later the beheaded elite fell to the sandy ground, a pool of blue blood forming around the corpse.

Ranma scanned the area for enemies, his motion tracker was clear but that didn't mean there weren't any more enemies.

Making sure it was clear, Ranma jumped the ten metres down and despite the heavy armour landed gracefully.

The marines used ropes to make it down. They were nine now, three had died during the brief fire-fight. The soldiers formed a circle around the lift, making sure the Covenant didn't drop some nasty surprises.

"This is Cortana, we have captured the lift and request reinforcements."

"_I copy that Cortana, Foehammer out."_

Three minutes later the pelican arrived unloaded the ten marine's reinforcement, and the other marines had time to refill on ammunition.

They were going into close quarter's battle so Ranma changed his sniper rifle to a MA5B assault rifle.

The marines walked into the beam and stood in a full circle, weapons pointing outwards, they prepared to fight the first thing they did when arriving.

Ranma could see as one of the marines began to hover a couple of inches over the ground, then another and another. They shot upwards with high speed, heading towards the covenant cruiser.

"Yahoo!" Was the enthusiastic yell from one of the marines.

---------------------- 

Ranma scanned the area, but didn't find anything, which bothered him. Why didn't the Covenant have any personnel guarding the bay?

"Looks like no ones home." Said a marine.

One of the bay doors opened. Everyone turned around, but no Covenant was in sight. Something moved at the field of his view. He turned around but couldn't see anything.

"Something isn't right, where the hell is the Covenant?" A marine said.

Everyone could feel it, the mood was tense. The marines were a little freaked out, no Covenant inside a Covenant cruiser? Just the thought was absurd.

Yet again something moved outside his view, but this time he didn't hesitate. The rattle of his assault rifle filled the air and the marines lifted their rifles and aimed towards Ranma.

"Why the hell did you sh…"

A loud clung was heard as something hit the floor, a second later a dead elite in sky-blue armour materialized on the floor.

"Heads up, we have assassins in here. Form a circle NOW!" The last word was barked out by Ranma, as he quickly scanned the area.

Assassins were probably the most feared Covenant ground troop. Using a stealth generator instead of the standard shield they infiltrated the UNSC-positions and silently killed the soldiers. The few soldiers that had lived through an attack by assassins often said that they rather pick a fight with a pissed off hunter than with an assassin, them you could at least see.

"No ones home my ass. Just keep your mouth shut next time Christiansen."

"Noted for future reference sir." The marine in question said.

Ranma didn't care about the soldiers antics, he was concentrating on finding the other assassins, they NEVER worked alone.

------------------------------------------

Nosolee Isnae looked in horror on what used to be the blessed eye squad. Pools off blue and purple blood was scattered everywhere, the corpses of his fellow soldiers were strewn around the gravity lift. Over thirty Covenant dead and no human corpses in sight.

He roared in rage at the human vermin. He had severely underestimated their strength. He walked towards the gravity lift, closely followed by the purity of soul squad and the purity of mind squad. He would find and end those lower life-forms existence.

The gravity lift bay wasn't much better, the corpses of four assassins littered the floor. Once again there were no human corpses. He walked down numerous corridors, following the trail of blood and bodies. As he wandered deeper into the ship his anger was replaced with sorrow for his fallen brethren. They had found 8 human bodies, but the sheer amount of dead Covenant was amazing. The humans had killed at least ten Covenant soldiers for every human that had died.

The humans shouldn't… COULDN'T fight this good. His mind began to fill with doubts, how could this happen, the prophets had blessed them. The doors to the hangar bay opened…

--------------------------------------------

Ranma sidestepped the angry hunter, slamming the muzzle of the rifle into the hunter's weak spot on the backside of their armour. A three round burst silenced the giant, but its brood mate roared in anger and charged up its massive fuel-rod gun. He tried to dodge but the blast caught up with him, sending him to the floor.

His shield was almost empty, and they wouldn't get time to recharge before the hunter fired again. The hunter didn't shoot, but instead walked up and pressed his body against the bulkhead. Both arms were pressing against the hunter who tried to crush him. He could feel as the bulkhead began to sink in, the immense pressure from the hunter pushing his armoured body into it. Ranma didn't manage to get a good grip on the hunter so he tried to reach his pistol lying on the floor next to him, his right hand still trying to get the alien off him.

He touched the pistol with his fingers but didn't get close enough to grab it. The beast was now strangling him and Ranma vision began to fade. With his last bit of strength he managed to grab the pistol and press it inside the beast's helm. A suppressed _thud,thud,thud _was heard as he fired the pistol point blank into the aliens forehead.

The alien fell backwards, orange blood spilling from the wound.

He stood up and searched for his rifle, and he found it a second later.

Half of the rifle was gone, melted away and the edge was still glowing red. He threw it away and picked up the nearest weapon, a Covenant plasma rifle. He looked around and could see a couple of grunts run around a corner. Half a second later rifles firing was heard. Three marines came around and scanned the area and when they spotted the Chief they walked over to him.

"How many casualties?" Ranma said.

"We are the last sir" The marine said, her nametag identified her as Samantha J. Denton, sorrow was evident in his voice but also determination.

Ranma nodded and made a gesture for them to follow him. He pushed open a damaged door and walked inside, away from the hangar bay.

-------------------------------------

The bay was covered in blood, at least a hundred Covenant lay around, and only a few humans. The walls were covered in blue purple blood and plasma scoring. On some places the bodies of the Covenant was lying in piles, the floor was a carpet of corpses. The blood was flowing out off the open hangar doors. He walked around in the bay without an aim. Now the sorrow was replaced with despair, the humans hadn't fought like this before. How could this be?

His anger returned, a loud battle cry left his throat. I didn't matter how the humans did it, the important was to avenge his fallen brethren.

---------------------------------------

A loud scream was heard as the final elite dropped from the combined fire of three marines and a Spartan. He scanned the area and made sure it was empty, and then walked up to the panel standing in the centre of the room. With the help of Cortana he managed to disable the fields surrounding the prison cells. A good fifty marines and navy personnel stumbled out of their cells, some marines picking up weapons from dead Covenant.

Ranma walked up to the cell where Keyes was lying. He helped the Captain to stand and then saluted him.

"Coming here was reckless." Keyes said his voice harsh. "Thanks" he continued and his face broke into a smile.

"Any time, sir" Ranma said as emotionless as ever.

"Gentlemen lets get out of here and signal for a ride." Cortana said.

----------------------------

Cortana and Keyes were holding a quick council of war.

"While the Covenant had us locked up in here I heard them talk about the ringworld… and its destructive capabilities." Keyes said.

"One moment sir. I am accessing the Covenant … If I am interpreting this correctly, the Covenant believe that Halo is some kind of weapon with vast unimaginable power" Cortana said

"Yes, the aliens who interrogated me kept saying that whoever controls Halo controls the fate of the universe" Keyes said with a growl.

"Now I see. I intercepted a number of messages about a Covenant search-team scouting for a control room. I thought they searched for the bridge of a cruiser damaged in the fight above, but the must be looking for _Halos _control room." Cortana said thoughtfully.

"That's bad news. If Halo is a weapon, and the Covenant gain control over it, they will use it against us. Who knows what power that will give them?" Keyes said a little stressed.

"Chief, Cortana, I have a new mission for you, we will need to beat the Covenant to the control room."

"No offence sir, but it might be a good idea to finish this mission first before we start another."

Keyes offered a tired grin.

"Good point Chief. Marines lets move!"

They took of towards the hangar bay, meeting only minor resistance.

----------------------------------------------

"Major, we have incoming Covenant dropship." The tech manning the radar said.

"How many?" Major Alex "Silver" Silvia asked.

"One maam, but… it is escorted by a pelican, identified as E-419." The tech looked at the radar again to be sure.

"Hail them." She said to the comm.-officer.

"This is alpha base to pelican Echo-Four-Nineteen, do you copy?"

"I hear you loud and clear. Got good news we have the Captain, he is in the other dropship."

"In the Covenant?" The tech asked.

"Yes, we didn't have enough room for everyone, so the Captain "borrowed" it from the Covenant."

----------------------------------------------  

Major Silvia looked as the dropship took ground, the back hatch opening and a Spartan climbing out, followed by a group of armed marines. Alpha base was located in a forerunner structure on the top a butte. During the first three hours after the evacuation of the ship a group of sixty ODST had taken the butte from the Covenant, establishing a command post for the UNSC-forces.

Both human and Covenant supply crates filled the area. Eight shade plasma guns taken from the Covenant guarded the perimeter, and ten captured banshee rapid attack ships were ready to take of on a minutes notice. Four pelican dropships was standing and waiting for the time they would be needed, and another five was up in the air, picking up supplies from the Pillar of Autumns wreck. All in all they would be able to put up a good fight if the Covenant tried to take the base back.

The hatch to the Covenant dropship opened and a rag-tag assortment of UNSC personnel jumped out, engineers, kitchen personnel, regular marines and even a few ODST.

Last but no least the Captain jumped out. His clothes were dirty and torn, a tendril of dried blood ran down his left cheek, but all in all he seemed fine.

--------------------------------

The Master Chief, Keyes and Major Silvia were inside the forerunner building, the Captain and Major sitting while Ranma was silently standing hands behind his back.

"When we where on the cruiser I monitored some of the Covenants communications. A Covenant digging team has found some interesting structures on an island 1500 kilometres down spin. They talked about some kind of silent cartographer, my guess is that it is map leading to the control room. Numerous Covenant dropships was on route to reinforce the small digging team, they really don't us to find the control room. Later another digging team was on route towards some swamp lands 800 kilometres up spin, looking for a weapons case. The nature of the weapon is unknown to me." Cortana said.

Captain Keyes looked up from were he was sitting.

"Chief we can't let the Covenant get the control room, we will send you in with a strike team to get the silent cartographer."

"Yes sir." Ranma answered emotionless as ever.

"I will take a group of marines and check out the other digging site." Keyes continued and then looked at Silvia.

"What will I do, sir?" She asked and looked at Keyes.

"You will stay here and keep your marines on alert, once the Chief finds the location of the control room you will dust off and capture it."

"Yes sir."

"Now move out marines." Keyes said.

------------------------------------

Ranma could see as the other pelican trailed closely behind. They flew over the crystal-clear ocean, an ocean that reminded him of the ones back home on Reach. He quickly killed that train of thought, he couldn't afford to become emotional and unfocused during a mission.

"The _Covenant are holding the beach, the DZ is going to be hot!_" He could hear the pilot say over the speakers.

Ranma was the first to leave the pelican, he could feel as his feet sunk down in the sand. He lobbed a grenade at a pack of grunts and then opened fire on an elite. Keeping a steady aim he could hear as his grenade exploded and could see three grunts fly through the air. Some plasma hit around him, turning the sand into glass.

The fire-fight on the beach was short, the Covenant had been too surprised to form an effective defence, and the UNSC-casualties were small.

_"This is Foehammer, I am bringing in a warthog." _ Came the voice over the comm. channels.

"Didn't know you made house calls Foehammer." A sergeant said jokingly.

"You know our motto, we deliver." She said as she appeared in the distance.

-------------

Cathy "Foehammer" Rawley made a quick fly-by around the island, trying to see what kind of resistance the marines could expect.

"This is Foehammer, I have multiply hunters and a good lot of elites as well, surrounding a structure to your north. Cant find any other source of access to the interior of the buildings."

"I copy that Foehammer." Came the sergeant's voice again.

Rawley made a U-turn and headed back towards the marines position, hovering five metres over the ground. Down below she could see twenty or so marines and one figure that towered over the rest with a full head. The figure was clad in olive-green armour with black under-layer, his face concealed by a golden visor.

Rawley pressed the release button on the magnets that held the warthog attached to the pelican.

_"See you later Foehammer."_ The sergeant said.

"Rodger that."

-------------------------------------

Ranma shouldered the M19 SSM Rocket Launcher, and aimed it at a hunter. To his side three other marines did the same, everyone aiming at a different hunter.

A loud _swoosh_ announced the humans presence. The rockets slammed into the hunters, two died immediately but the two others just staggered back as the rockets hit them. The launchers cycled the firing tube and a new rocket was ready. This time two rockets hit each hunter, killing time. Ranma dropped his launcher and picked up his assault rifle and began to open fire on the remaining.

Around him another twenty marines did the same, the sheer amount of bullets mowing down the Covenant squads.

Five minutes later every last Covenant was dead, the human losses being only four.

"First team guard the entrance, second team follow me." Ranma said as he ejected the almost empty clip and inserted a new one.

------------------------------------------   

Rawley made another fly-by, seeing the marines dragging some Covenant supply crates and building a hastily defence perimeter.

Behind her the Bravo-twenty-two and Charlie-zero-eleven where following her in a standard V-formation.

Flying over the beach again she could see as a group of Covenant began to make there way towards the newly conquered building.

"Heads up everyone, Covenant are inbound."

_"Roger that Foehammer."  _

------------------------------------

Major Alex Silver ran over towards the small hut where they had placed the radar equipment. Inside five techs were standing around a screen.

"What happened, why did you raise the alarm?" She asked but she already knew the answer.

"We have seven Covenant dropships inbound from our south. They are heading straight towards us."

Silvia cursed, they expected to pull out towards the control room in less then three hours, and now they would be preoccupied by this. At least all marines were in their combat gear and armed and ready.

------------------------------------

Ranma sidestepped the charge of the elite and slammed the butt of his rifle into the back of the aliens head. The room was filled with a wet snap as the neck of the alien bent into an un-natural angle.

"Chief the holo-panel to your right, that's the cartographer. Give me a second to interact with the system and I will give you the location of the control room." Cortana said.

The panel flashed a second and then went still again.

"Done, now let's get out of here."

Ranma looked like around, there was only four marines left of the eight he had entered with, and only one was in fighting condition.

Getting everyone out fast would become a problem.

--------------------------------------

"Sergeant we have wounded down here, can you offer assistance?" Came Chiefs voice over the comm.

"Negative on that sir, we have Covenant here, lot of them. Cant hold them of much longer" Sergeant Harris answered as he fired another round into a grunt.

---------------------------------------

"Chief tell the marines to evacuate now, I have a plan."

"Hope you know what you are doing." Ranma said and helped a wounded marine to his feet.

They where over five hundred metres below the island, the Cartographer was located at the bottom of the building.

"Sergeant, tell your men to pull back to the pelicans." Ranma said over the comm.

"But sir…"

"Just do it." Ranma really hoped that Cortana knew what she was doing.

-------------------------------------------

Rawley was about to follow the two other pelicans to pick up the marines when her comm. crackled to life.

"Foehammer, this is Cortana, proceed to these coordinates." She heard Cortana say.

Half a second later her screen pepped and the coordinates appeared. Her eyes bugged out, Cortana couldn't be serious.

"Cortana these coordinates are underground!"

"I know, Halo has a massive underground tunnel system going through the entire ring. I have hacked into the system control and opened the hatch."

She flew over the island and could see as a massive, round hatch in the ground opened.

"Just hope you know what you are talking about, because this is one pelican that belongs _above_ ground."

"See it this way Foehammer, the last thing the Covenant would suspect would be an aerial attack… from underground."

----------------------------------------------

The fight for alpha base had been going on for over eighteen hours. The first wave had been successfully blasted out of the sky with the shade guns. The Covenant had then deployed ground troops and tried to take the base by foot.

They had managed to fight off the first wave without a problem. The second wave had managed to breach the perimeter, but the UNSC-forces had managed to stop the Covenants advance. The two forces were soon involved in a trench war, where the UNSC seemed to win with only a small margin.

They would need reinforcements to take alpha base back.

This just wasn't her day Major Alex Silvia thought as she blew apart a grunt with a well aimed burst.

------------------------------------------------

Ranma jumped out of the pelican raising his rifle and scanning for enemies.

"Chief I will return to alpha base with the wounded. I will be back as soon as possible.

"I copy that."

He could see as E-419 took off and flew away.

He shock his head to clear it and the turned around. He was in a huge underground chamber and if Cortana was right the control room would be 18 clicks to the south. He walked up to the only exit and then fell into a fast jog towards the control room.

----------------------------------------------------

 "_This is fire team Zulu, we need immediate assistance from any UNSC-personnel_!" The comm. crackled to life as he left the huge underground tunnel network.

"This is strange, there shouldn't be any marine forces in this area." Cortana said over his internal comm.

"This is Master Chief-117, I am on my way."

"_Chief? Thank god you're here, we haven't heard anything from anyone since we left the Autumn_." The voice over the comm. sounded relieved.

The marines had put up positions around the wreck of a downed pelican, foxholes and trenches surrounding the entire area. Over to the north of the canyon a large group of dead Covenant was seen.

A marine wearing the cap of a sergeant looked out from his foxhole. After making sure it wasn't a Covenant he climbed out and walked over to him. The marine saluted him.

"The Covenant has had us pinned down here and we haven't been able to get in contact with anyone. Until you showed up Chief I thought we where the only survivors from the Autumn."

Twenty or so marines had left their foxholes and walked over to great the Chief, after being stuck here for days the armoured Spartan was a gift from the heavens.

"We will need to move now sergeant, twelve clicks south there is an important installation and from there we can call in an evac."

"You heard him men, lets move!" The sergeant yelled as he turned around towards the marines.

"Sir yes sir!" Came the enthusiastic yell from the marines. Finally they could get out off this hellhole.

-------------------------------------------------------------  

"Chief, that was the last Covenant. They didn't get farther then this." Cortana said as they opened the third of the massive blast doors."

"What the hell is this place, sir?" One of the marines asked as the doors began to open.

"It's the rings control room." Cortana answered simply.

The final door opened slowly. The chamber was huge, at least four hundred metres from floor to ceiling. A small walkway let into the middle of the chamber where a hologram of the ring floated in the air. The hologram was at least a hundred metres in diameter.

"That terminal… try there." Cortana said.

He reached out and touched the panel, and he could feel the cold presence in the back of his head disappear.

"Cortana, are you okay?" Ranma asked as he looked on the AI holographic body.

"Never been better. You can't imagine the wealth of information. So much, so fast. It's glorious." She said with an excited voice.

"So, what sort of weapon is it?" Ranma asked

"What are you talking about?" Cortana asked surprised.

"Let's stay focused. Halo. How do we use it against the Covenant?" Ranma asked.

The image of Cortana frowned.

"The ring isn't a cudgel you barbarian, its something else. Something much more important. The Covenant were right, this ring…" Cortana paused, and her eyes moved back and forth like she was reading a book.

"Forerunner. Give me a moment to access" Cortana said.

"The Forerunner built this place, what they called a fortress, in order to…"

Ranma had never heard the AI talk like that before, didn't like being referred to as "barbarian" and was about to cut her down in size a when she spoke again.

Plainly alarmed, her voice had a hesitant quality.

"No that can't be… Oh, those Covenant fools, they must have known, there must have been signs."

"Slow down, you're losing me." Ranma said to the AI.

Her eyes widened in horror.

"The Covenant found something, buried in this ring, something horrible. And now they are afraid.

"Something buried?" Ranma asked the AI.

Cortana looked over Ranma, like she was looking at something in the distance.

"Captain… We got to stop the Captain. The weapons case he's looking for, it's not really…. We can't let him get inside!" Her voice was hysteric.

"I don't understand." Ranma said again calmly.

"There is no time. I have to remain here. Go out, find Keyes, and stop him before it's too late!

Ranma nodded and then took off toward the exit.

He meet the marines standing guard and the yelled toward them.

"Get to the pelican ASAP!"

The nodded and began to follow him. The meet up with the rest of the marines outside and was surprised at the urgency in the Spartans voice.

Thirty seconds later and everyone was inside the E-419 and had and was heading towards the Captains last location. 

----------------------

**Authors Notes:**

Finally done with this chapter.

**Q: **Wasn't there moresurvivors?

**A:** No, the other two took another pelican and never made it back to the Autumn.****

**Q: **Ground troops?

**A: **The reason the Covenant sent in ground troops was to destroy the planetary reactor powering the Super MACs. Without the MACs Reach would be glassed within minutes.

Xerxez signing off


	10. Demons awakening

**Disclaimer**: All series portrayed within this fan-fic belongs to whoever owns them. I DON'T!

**The Halo of the Hero**

**Chapter 10- Demons awakening.**

"The last transmission from the captains dropship was from this area, and that was over twelve hours ago."

"I copy that." Ranma said over the comm.

"When you find the captain radio in and I will come pick you up."

Ranma jumped out of the back of the pelican, falling five metres before landing in water. He brushed some rotten vegetation from his armour and then proceeded towards the coordinates Foehammer had given him.

He was in the middle of a swamp, the muddy water reaching him to his waist. The fog was thick, you barely could see ten metres. The trees of the surrounding are reached up and disappeared in the darkness above.

He scanned the area for any potential hostiles and then continued to walk. Not even a hundred metres from the point where Foehammer had dropped him of he found the wreckage of Victor-931.

The fog and surrounding foliage had made it impossible for Foehammer to spot the crash site from the air.

Inside he found the bodies of the pilot and co-pilot, but no trace of any marines or the captain.

He checked the lockers in the back of the pelican, he had only ten rounds left in his assault rifle and a full clip in his M6D pistol, and that wasn't much when facing a horde of Covenant.

A couple of clips for both his rifle and pistol, some freeze-dried food, and a fully loaded shotgun and a case of shells for it.

Thinking that it might come in handy he slipped the sling of the shotgun over his right shoulder.

Scanning the area and keeping his eyes on his motion tracker he began to move once again. He followed a trail of portable work-lights indicating that Covenant was in the area. After another forty metres he found another wreck, a Covenant dropship this time.

It had its bow buried deep in the swamp muck. Bodies of dead Covenant littered the area, casualties in the crash. Around the dropship a couple of supply crates were lying around, but they didn't seem to come from the ship.

Once again he scanned the area for Covenant and once again he came up empty. He followed the trail of light that went from the crates and disappeared in the fog.

He jumped up on a fallen tree and climbed a small hill. He took cover as he saw a Covenant Jackal. He took aim and made sure it would hit a part that wasn't behind the handheld plasma shield.

A three round burst took the alien down. He crouched behind the rock and waited for the inevitable counter-attack, but it never came. With the crash-site, cargo crates and light he expected more opposition, a _lot _more. So where were they? Covenant never travelled alone.

It was another part in the growing mystery. The question was soon answered as a group of grunts walked through the foliage and stopped at the dead jackal. Ranma quickly changed to the shotgun which was better suited for close-up work.

Four loud _BANGS _each followed by the _KA-CHUNK_ sound as Ranma loaded another shell into the chamber was heard over the swamp.

Making sure they were dead and keeping an eye on his motion tracker he moved up to the dead Covenant. At the top of the hill he could see a forerunner structure less then thirty metres away.

All the other forerunner structures had been graceful spires, but this one looked mostly like a bunker.

He quickly walked up to the entrance, and seeing some spent shotgun shell and cartridges from an assault rifle littering the ground decided to enter the structure.

The room was empty, and the only way to continue was through a lift.

He stepped up on the platform and tried a number of combinations on the nearby panel before the lift started to move.

The lift descended at least four hundred metres and soon a group of red dots appeared on his HUD.

He prepared for combat, shouldering his MA5B assault rifle. When the lift stopped he was surprised that the Covenant wasn't expecting him. Instead of charging him like he expected them to do the red dots remained stationary.

They had heard the lift many times before, Ranma reasoned, and figured the lift was carrying more of their troops.

That suggested Covenant, or more precisely stupid Covenant. It was his favourite kind, except for the dead kind.

The group of dots was standing at the only exit, the view was obscured by a wall. Even though he was wearing a five-hundred kilo armour he didn't make a sound as he moved towards the wall. He took a quick peek around the wall and he could see a group of jackals and grunts standing around a hatch.

He silently placed his rifle at the ground and pulled out a grenade in each hand. He pulled the pins using his thumbs and then held them in his hands and counted to two. He silently rolled the grenades on the ground so that they stopped at the middle of the group.

He leaned back around the corner and waited.

A loud _wham _was followed by the screams of the Covenant, and a storm of fire and shrapnel. He picked up his discarded rifle and leaned back around the corner. The walls were black from the explosion, only being interrupted by patches of alien blood.

He walked through the door, making sure not to trip on the corpses. The walls were all made of some strange metal or stone, he wasn't sure of which. When he was outside he had heard the constant sound of rain but in here it was totally silent. The corridors of this building were claustrophobic, and the dust he kicked up as he walked gave the place a tomblike feeling.

He could see a corpse of a marine, and as he moved closer he could see the woman's weapons and dog-tags missing, a sure evidence that the marines had pushed further down the building.

------------------------------------------------------------

Noselee couldn't believe it, the humans had fought harder then they thought, killing nine squads of their standard infantry, and even eight hunters.

He cursed the humans, ever since the humans had landed on the sacred ring they had fought bolder than he ever had seen before. First the massacre on Truth & Reconciliation, and then now here on the silent cartographer.

He mourned over his lost brethren, saying a ritual prayer to all the dead soldiers on the beach. It was not how it should be, the humans couldn't fight like this, they should have been victorious, even with the special human at their side they shouldn't have been able to win.

With the blessings of the prophets he would see to that the guilty was punished.

He felt something deep down in his stomach, it was doubt. He mentally shrugged it off, the close contact with the dead human vermin must be clouding his mind. Once he got back to his ship he would meditate to purify his mind from such blasphemy thoughts.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Ranma entered walked through the hatch and was greeted to the sight of a fear-crazed marine.

He was sitting with his back against the wall, eyes open wide and jerking from side to side like he was seeking something. His face was twisted into a horrible grimace. There was no sign of the soldier's assault weapon but he had a pistol gripped tightly in his hands, and he fired into the shadows in a corner.

"Stay back! You're not turning me into one of those things."

"Put the weapon down soldier, I am on your side." Ranma said as gently as he was capable. This wasn't the first time he encountered marines that had broken under the pressure of combat.

The marine didn't listen and fired a shot at Ranma that hit him square in the chest. He could feel as the 12,7 mm slug hit him in the chest, but his shields absorbed the bullet.

"Get away from me! Don't touch me you freak, I will die first!"

Ranma quickly snatched the weapon away from the marine. The marine just pressed his back against the wall, he was shacking uncontrollably.

"Where are Captain Keyes and the rest of your squad?" Ranma asked and placed an armoured gauntlet on the marines shoulder to calm him down.

"Go find your own hiding place, the monsters are everywhere!" The man screamed as he looked around the room.

"What monster, do you mean the Covenant?" Ranma asked the shacking soldier.

"No, not the Covenant! _Them_!" The soldier screamed and flayed his arm as in an attempt to fend of some invisible opponent.

"Where are the rest of the marines?" Ranma asked seriously.

"Gone! The monsters took them! Oh God, I can still hear them scream. The screams were everywhere!" The marines said and covered his ears as to block out the sound.

Ranma handed the pistol back to the man whit accepted it with shaking hands.

"Reload it and get topside, there will be a dust off later." Ranma said and began to walk away.

The man curled up into a fetal ball and continued to whimper.

As Ranma rounded a corner of the room he could hear the marine whisper.

"I will die first."

A single shot was fired and then the clatter of a pistol falling to the ground echoed over the empty room, half a second later the sound of cloth sliding against the wall and then a small thud as something hit the floor was heard.

Ranma just shock his head, it was a waste of life.

---------------------------------------------------

Major Alex Silvia cursed a two Covenant dropships where closing in. The fighting for alpha base had been going worse for every hour. The Covenant had sent numerous reinforcements and had taken about two thirds of the base.

Half of her men were dug down at the entrance and the rest was trying to put up a fight near the landing pads and the pelicans, unfortunately the pilots where with the other squad so the pelicans where useless.

The Covenant had split their forces in two and it was impossible to get to the others help. They were running out of places to pull back to.

She could see as the alien dropships were trying to land on two of the vacant pads.

The dropships where hovering about twenty metres off the ground and was going down slowly. She grinned an evil smile as an idea formed in her head. She took of in a mad sprint across the landing pads.

She began to fumble with some controls and then picked up a hose. A long stream of fuel to the pelicans erupted from the hose and sprayed the landing pads. The small plastic step that surrounded the pad that was used to stop any spill-oil from spreading effectively blocked the fuel.

When the fuel on the pad became ankle deep she shut the hose off. She took cover behind a Covenant supply crate and then waited for the ships to land.

She could see as the hatch opened and numerous blue armoured elites jumped out. She pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it at the pad. The resulting explosion made it look like someone had opened a gate straight to hell under the feet of the Covenant.

The grenade detonated and half a second later the fuel ignited, a huge column of blazing fire shot up in the air.

The two dropships which were caught in the fire tried to pull away, but the ships open hatches just led the fire inside.

Alex could see smoke pour out of the engine compartment and fire coming from the still open hatches, one of the crafts where leaning badly to the right.

As the badly damaged ships tried to fly away they made two tactical blunders.

First they flew in a close formation even when they where both damaged and could explode, and second they flew over their own troops.

Collin, one of her heavy weapon experts, shouldered his M19 SSM Rocket launcher.

The dropships flew extremely slowly, because of the damage done to them so Collin hit one of them easily.

The rocket exploded on the left of the most badly damaged ship and made it turn violently and ram the other ship.

The U-shaped ship exploded at the bottom, sending both of the troop modules crashing down on their troops.

The second ships exploded ten metres up in the air, sending shrapnel everywhere.

"Good work soldier!" Alex yelled to the man. He just gave her the thumbs up.

She could see a huge hole in the Covenants line of defence separating both UNSC-squads.

"This is Major Silvia, put up some heavy fire on the breach."

About a third of her troops changed aim while the rest was pouring bullets over the oncoming Covenant.

She could hear the roar of engines in the distance but it wasn't the sound of Covenant engines, it was coming from a pelican.

The pelican made a fly by and Alex could see that it was Echo-Four-Nineteen. She made a U-turn but this time she was going in low.

Two 50-mm chain guns sprayed metal death on the Covenant, ripping them to pieces. She made two additional strafing runs clearing out a good deal of Covenant.

The pelican hovered fifteen metres over the ground and two ropes were thrown out of the back.

Two marines began to rappel down followed by another two. The marines secured a perimeter and began to open fire on the Covenant.

After unloading twenty or so troops she took of again, disappearing at the horizon.

The fight for alpha base had just turned in the humans favour, but Alex didn't lie to herself, this fight would be though as hell.

---------------------------------------------------------

Ranma walked up the ramp slowly and with his rifle at ready. He had walked through a series of mysteriously empty rooms and galleries, finding no trace of neither Covenant nor human forces.

He turned around and looked down on the room. It was empty like all the others. He had learned to trust his instincts long ago and now they nagged him. Something felt wrong. He stopped to listen but nothing was heard. The dim light was falling over the grey walls, but no enemy was seen.

The room he entered was rectangular with two ramps that went down and met in the middle. He slowly walked down the ramp, scanning the cold walls fore any sign of anything. At the bottom he found a single hatch. He felt as is someone was watching him so he turned around but was met with an empty corridor.

He shrugged of the bad feeling and walked towards the door. The door sensed his presence and opened. A dead marine fell towards Ranma.

He felt his pulse quicken and his body tensed as he caught the man before the body crashed to the floor. He held the MA5B assault rifle in one hand as he scanned the room past the door. Finding nothing he turned around and scanned the open door he was coming from. The corridor was empty.

He backed away from the door and it slid shut. He lowered the body of the marine down to the floor carefully and then stepped back. His armoured boot hit some empty shell casings which rolled away. That's when he realized the floor was filled with thousands of empty shells, it was so many that they looked to carpet the floor.

He found numerous weapons lying on the floor and a single marine helmet. He picked it up and saw the name JENKINS stencilled at the back with white colour.

A vid-cam was attached, the kind wore by every combat team, so that they could critique missions afterwards, feed the ghouls in intelligence, and on occasion like this give people information regarding the circumstances surrounding a soldiers death.

He quickly picked out the chip and inserted it in the empty slot in his helmet, and watched the video on a window on his HUD.

The marine had his night-vision on and that made everything sickly green. The screen flashed and then began to play.

He was sitting in the compartment of a pelican, loud rock music was playing over the speakers.

"Why do we always have to listen to this old stuff sarge?" A marine sitting next to Jenkins said.

"Watch it son, this _stuff _is your history." Johnson said with a frown.

"Hey, if the Covenant wants to wipe out this particular part of my history its fine by me." A marine straight across the compartment said.

"Yeah, better it then us." Jenkins said and laughed.

"_The view looks clear, I am going in"_ The pilot's voice said over the speakers and cut of the music.

It continued quite ordinary, they moved through the swamp and came upon the same structure he himself had entered.

"Mendoza, Jenkins move it up. Bisenti, wait here for the Captain and his squad and then get your ass inside." He could hear Johnson say over the comm.

They proceeded down the same halls he himself had walked, every single one was empty.

"Sure are many unlocked door in this place." He could hear Mendoza say.

"Mendoza put a sock in it will you." He could hear Johnson say as they walked through another door. The mood was tense.

The room was a mess, Covenant bodies was littering the floor and fires where burning in the corners. The marine secured the room and then Johnson and a few others walked up and stood around a body of a dead Covenant elite.

"What the hell happened, we haven't sent in any forces here, and still every Covenants dead."

"Which is weird right? I mean look at it... it looks like something scrambled the insides." A marine said as he prodded the body with his boot.

"What's that? Plasma scoring?" Johnson said and pointed to wall.

"Yeah, maybe they had an accident. You know friendly fire or something." A marine said but you could hear he wasn't convinced himself.

The doors opened and the marines raised their weapons. When Captain Keyes walked in followed by a couple of marines they lowered them again.

"What do we have sergeant?" He said and walked up to the body.

"Looks like a Covenant patrol, badass elite units, all KIA." Johnson said and pointed at the wounds on the elite.

"Real pretty, friend of yours?" Keyes said and tried to brighten the mood. Everyone could see the marines were extremely freaked out because of the dead Covenant. The Covenant may be trigger-happy, but not enough to kill their own men.

"No we just met." Mendoza said and that earned him a couple of laughs.

They moved deeper down the complex, and finally they came upon the door Ranma himself had opened only minutes before.

"Open that door soldier." Keyes said.

"It looks like the Covenant worked pretty hard to lock it down." A marine standing before the door and working on a panel said.

"Just do it son." Keyes said.

The marine nodded and a couple of minutes later the door slid open.

The marines and Captain Keyes entered the room rifles trained at everything that looked suspicious.

"I've got a bad felling about this." A marine said nervously.

"Kid you always got a bad felling about..."

"_Captain, sarge we are under attack, but their not Covenant!" _A marine yelled in the radio and gunfire was heard in the background

"_Shit! Fire goddamn it! HELarggggggg." _The transmission cut.

"Corporal? Corporal? Mendoza get your ass back to second squads position and find out what the hell is going on.

"But..." Mendoza said.

"We don't have time for you complaining soldier..." Johnson said but was interrupted.

"SARGE! Listen." Mendoza said and made gesture with his hand to quiet down everyone.

Loud dripping noises were heard, sounding like some huge slimy insects where crawling somewhere.

A hatch was ripped open and something moved out towards the marines. It was _many _something's, hundred pouring over the marines that where backing away and shooting at the oncoming hordes. The last thing seen was as one of those things attached to Jenkins face and everything went black.

Ranma threw away the vid-chip and began slowly to back away towards the door. It was closed and then he could hear the same dripping noise that was on the chip.

A loud banging was heard on the door he was standing with his back to. He turned around on his heels and aimed at the door. Huge dents began to appear on it and soon it was busted open.

The things that entered were roughly half a meter long and round. They had small black tentacles with which they moved around with. They had a sickly green-brown colour and they dripped a vile looking yellow slime on the ground.

They lunged for him and he opened fire in an instant. The 7,62 mm armour piercing rounds went right through the creatures and killed the ones behind. His sixty round clip went dry and he changed and began to open up on the second wave.

When he emptied his fourth clip no more entered the door. He looked around the room, hundred of the creature was lying dead on the floor, their blood forming a carpet of green.

With rifle trained on the door he began to move towards the room's only exit. When he was three metres from the door a marine jumped around the corner. Or rather the remains of a marine.

The body looked like it was rotting, the skin was a sickly yellow-green colour. The eyes where completely white and the mouth was open in a silent scream. The face was distorted in a grimace of anguish, and the left arm of the man was replaced with whip looking tentacles.

The flesh looked like it was partly liquefied, the flesh looking like it was falling off the bones of the man.

The creature jumped at him five metres through the air. Ranma opened fire immediately with short controlled bursts, he fired twenty round at the creature but it just continued to charge, like the blown off arm and head didn't bother him the least.

When it was two metres from him he opened fire on full automatic, putting it down with another twenty rounds.

He quickly changed a new clip, because more of those thing where already moving through the door.

This time he opened up on full automatic right away, aiming at the chest of the creature for best stopping effect.

When the thing fell the one right behind it leaped at him, his tentacle arm pulled back for a strike.

His rifle went dry and he brought it up to block the strike. The strike bent the rifle into a V-shape, making it completely useless.

Sidestepping he managed to grab the arm of the thing and he ripped hard. A wet snap was heard as he ripped the whole arm out of its socket. He threw the limb away and then punched hard into the back of the creature.

His hand went right through the rotten flesh and appeared out of the things chest. But even with that wound it tried to turn around and attack Ranma.

With his free hand he took a strong grip around the neck of the creature and ripped out the creature's spine.

He quickly picked up his shotgun he dropped in the fight and turned towards the door. At least ten of those thing where crowding at the door.

He quickly pinned a grenade and threw it at the monsters. A loud _wham_ and a rain of rotting body parts announced he had taken care of a bunch of those things.

He charged and fired three shells into the first of the remaining things and put it down fast. It appeared that the shotgun was the most effective weapon against those things at close range.

He fired another seven rounds into the two remaining and hurried out of the door. He didn't like it down here and he wished he hadn't left Cortana. Right now he felt very alone and a small bit of dread gripped his heart.

Those things had looked like they had come from hell itself. He quickly crushed any emotion and then put all his focus on getting his sorry ass out of here.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Cortana frowned at the computer system. Even though she had been able to access a majority of the systems in Halo she was still not able to access the Alpha systems. She took some pride in the fact that she had been able hack into a computer system on this scale, a computer system that was built by the forerunners themselves, but the irritation of not being able to access all information overshadowed the pride by far.

She frowned even more as she saw what was happening in the real world. The Covenant had launched yet another attack on Alpha base, but this time the reinforcements couldn't do much.

They where in a stalemate.

She frowned even more as she saw what had happened with Keyes squad. She really hoped that Ranma would make it out of there alive, he was interesting... for a human. He would be facing hordes of flood. The things had been named "the flood" and Cortana thought that it was a fitting name, they attacked in superior numbers, drowning their enemies in flood of bodies.

She turned her attention to the Covenant, they had put every ship into orbit as soon as the word about the flood had spread.

The only two ships left were the Truth and Reconciliation, and the Pillar of Autumn. The Autumn was absolutely useless for any form of space travel, but the Truth & Reconciliation would be able to leave the systems with only minor repairs.

She began to go through the information she had gathered from the main-frame. As she did it she paused for three whole seconds and her eyes widened in horror.

The Covenant, Keyes and Ranma had only accessed the top layers of the compound, and all the deeper levels where still locked down. She began to put up additional security measures on the doors leading there, the flood they had released was nothing compared to the ones still in hibernation.

If they woke up she didn't know what to do.

----------------------------------------

Ranma ran up to the console and pressed a couple of combinations before hearing the machinery start. He turned around and opened fire on the oncoming horde of flood. The lift shoot upwards and soon yellow dots appeared on his HUD.

As the lift stopped he could see he was surrounded by marines, the living ones this time. Everyone had their rifle trained on him, but they didn't lower it when they saw who he was. When he was wearing his mjolnir armour they couldn't tell if he had been turned into one of the flood.

"I am not one of them." Ranma said simply over the speakers.

The marines sighed in relief and lowered their weapons.

"Thank god you showed up chief, sorry for the cold reception but we are rather safe then sorry."

"It is understandable. What happened here? I only got the basic idea."

"We split up into four teams. The first squad would enter the structure at the other entrance, second squad would hold position there. We where in the third and fourth squad, we were going to put up a field HQ here and guard the drop zone. We got some garbled messages from second squad and then awhile latter from first. We didn't get time to see what happened to them because those things attacked and took out both pelicans and destroyed most of our equipment, including the radios. We lost a good deal of men to drive those things back and then we put up a position here so we could wait for any rescue teams. We only have short range radios left so we couldn't get a message to Alpha base." The marine said and sighed.

He nodded and then put up a stable connection with E-419.

"Foehammer I have some survivors, can you come pick us up?" He said.

"_Two hundred metres from your current position there is a tower. Get there and I can pick you up_." She said.

Ranma turned towards the marines and looked at their weapons. Everyone had either an assault rifle or shotgun. He nodded in approval, the only way to kill the flood for good was to cause extreme amounts of damage. He had blown away a flood both legs and right arm and it still tried to drag itself towards him with its remaining arm.

The only thing missing was two marines carrying flamethrowers, but you couldn't have everything.

"You heard the lady, move it marines!" Ranma shouted as he took point. The marines were walking in a close formation, covering each other. Ranma had his eyes on the motion tracker, trying to any sign of flood.

A big cluster of red dots appeared to his right, but when he looked there he only saw calm swamp water.

He frowned and pinned a grenade and threw it into the water. A cascade of water and a downpour of dead infection forms announced the presence of the flood. A couple of the things jumped out of the water and began to attack, but didn't even get close with the fire coming from the marines and Ranma.

He looked out on the water and then at his motion tracker, red dots were everywhere.

"Avoid the water at all cost, they are just waiting for a chance to get an easy prey." He said over the comm.

The group began to run towards the tower, but still covering each other. They arrived at the tower, it was huge and the thing disappeared in the darkness above.

His entire motion tracker was covered by red dots surrounding the small group of yellow ones, and they where slowly closing in.

He threw his six remaining grenades into the water and then opened fire. The marines did the same, pillars of water shooting up into the air as they exploded, dead flood infection form falling out of the sky with the water.

Even with the constant fire coming from the marines' weapons the circle was becoming closer and closer.

"_What the hell is happening down there? I am tracking movement all over the place."_

"Get here now!" Ranma said into the comm.

A combat form jumped out of the water and lunged at a marine with its whip like tentacle. The man hadn't time to react, the wet snap as the man's neck was broken wasn't heard over the constant rattle of weapons firing.

The thing jumped another marine and this time hit a marine across her chest. Her armour took the brunt of the strike, but she still got a huge gash across her arm.

The thing was about to lash out again but was stopped as Ranma wielded his shotgun like a baseball bat and struck it across the chest. It wasn't fancy, it wasn't graceful, but that hardly mattered when you count in the fact he hit hard enough to stop a freight train dead in its track. The thing flew twenty metres through the air and landed in an ungraceful heap, and it _didn't _get up.

"Visitor team scores." He said and fired three shells into a charging flood that went down.

His last shell went into the chest of a charging flood and he was about to repeat his patented special swing technique with his shotgun.

He didn't get the chance, a beam of red light struck the flood in the chest. It staggered backwards and was hit once again, but this time from the side.

Ranma followed the beam and saw some kind of flying robot. It was about a meter long and fired a constant laser beam on the flood. Ranma looked around and could see that at least thirty of those thing where flying around and cutting the flood to pieces.

They hadn't fired on them yet so he didn't fire on them. The red dots began to disappear and soon the only thing remaining was fourteen yellow dots and thirty or so white ones indicating the robots.

The loud roar of pelican engines was heard and soon E-419 appeared out of the fog.

Ranma helped some of the wounded marines onboard the pelican and was about to jump in himself when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Greetings, I am 343 Guilty Spark, I am the monitor of installation Zero-Four. Someone has released the flood and I am here is to prevent them from leaving this installation. But I need your assistance Reclaimer." The thing that spoke was a flying metal ball that emitted a blue light.

Ranma looked at the marines and then at the Guilty Spark. He nodded and then turned towards the marines.

"Warn Alpha base about what happened here. See too it that they prepare."

"Yes sir" A marine yelled over the roar of the engines.

The marine unslung his rifle and threw it and a belt full of ammunition to Ranma

"Might need it." He said.

The pelican took of and disappeared into the fog.

"We must retrieve the Index so we can access high level systems and activate Halos defences." Guilty Spark said and began to float towards the tower.

"And where is it located?" Ranma asked as he walked next to Guilty Spark.

"On another part of the ring, in a protective barrier that will stop the flood from taking it." He said simply.

"And how will we get there?" Ranma asked.

Guilty Spark didn't answer, but instead Ranma was enveloped in yellow light and in a flash he was gone.

-----------------------------------------

Noselee exited the room, he was in shock, he had been appointed the title warmaster. He would be commanding the ground-troops onboard five of their warships.

It was an immense honour and he wouldn't fail like the one before him. The old warmaster had died fighting of the flood. He and a small band of elites had pushed them back and the prophets had heard that an appointed him as a replacement.

But one thing was nagging him, if the ancient enemies had been buried on the sacred ring then what was the human's part in the whole? They too had fought against the enemies of the sacred ones.

The doubt he had felt was growing stronger.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ranma reappeared in a huge circular room. He shock his head to make the disorientation go away. The room was at least three hundred metres across and at least eight hundred metres high. In the middle a pillar of blue light pulsated and at the top he could see a platform that was appearing to float in the air.

"I couldn't get you closer then this, there is defensive systems hindering a teleportation to close to the Index. The Index is located at the top platform." Guilty Spark said turned to face Ranma.

"My scans indicate you are wearing a level two combat skin. It is inappropriate for this kind of work, I recommend you upgrade to a level twelve combat skin at least."

Ranma raised an eyebrow inside his helmet. There was an armour six times as good as the Mjolnir mark Five!? He would be the first to sign up for it.

-----------------------------------------------

Guilty Spark observed as the Reclaimer made his way through the complex, fighting the hordes attacking him.

He fought with an extreme precision, taking out the flood approaching with no mercy. It appeared that the Reclaimers fighting abilities had decreased since he last saw him, but he had gained something else.

Every step was well calculated, every move was efficient, every shoot was fired with such a cold merciless precision only beckoning an AI.

He only took cover when needed to, he only shoot when he was sure to hit.

He didn't panic, he didn't show any sign of fear or any emotion else for that matter. He was absolutely emotionless, he didn't hesitate to kill.

Guilty Spark appreciated the way he fought, it appeared he fought with his mind now and not with his skill.

He was moving through the complex faster then the last time, even though he had inappropriate armour and weapons.

He began to scan the weapon the Reclaimer was holding now, the assault rifle if his memory unit wasn't mistaking. Unlike the ones the Reclaimer had arrived with who used energy based plasma weaponry he found a weapon whose principle he was unfamiliar with. The principle for the weapon wasn't in his memory unit and then he made a cross reference in the archives but came up with nothing.

It used a chemical that was ignited in an enclosed space and the pressure would then propel a ballistic metal round. The round would generate kinetic energy and when it hit it would inflict damage on the target.

It was simply, almost crude, but it worked. It was so simply that he never would have discovered it. The mechanics was simply but extremely interesting so he began load them down into the archives as highly interesting material.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The last of the huge metal doors opened and Guilty Spark declared that no flood had been able to access this area.

He was at the top floor and he walked towards the platform, a small walkway led out to it.

In the middle of the platform the index floated. It was made out of what appeared red crystal and had a basic T-shape. As he walked towards him he noticed something lying on the ground next to it.

He kneeled by it and looked carefully at the object. It was what appeared to be a sword, having the shape of a katana. He pulled it out of the scabbard and inspected the blade.

The blade was about three feet and the hilt was perhaps a foot. The blade was thin and it reflected the light strangely, two small crystal stars was placed on each side at the beginning of the hilt. The crystal stars was surrounded by what appeared to a ring, but then he realised it was the Halo. At the beginning of the blade two small blue gems was attached, they seemed to glow.

There was something written on the hilt, but he couldn't read it. He placed it in the scabbard and laid it back on the ground. Even though it was a beautiful blade he couldn't take it with him, it would only be in the way.

He stood up and was about to take the Index when Guilty Spark butted in.

"You should probably take the blade, it is unwise to leave such a weapon for the Flood."

Ranma turned around and looked at Guilty Spark and then nodded. He picked it up and then walked over to the Index.

The blue light disappeared and he took a strong grip on the Index. A zap of lightning and the Index were in Guilty Sparks hands.

"I will take care of the Index for transport."

A bright flash once again surrounded the two and then they disappeared.

---------------------------------------------------------------

"What is our warriors' status?" Noselee asked the red armoured elite standing besides him.

Even though he wanted to be down there fighting along his brothers he wouldn't make the same mistake as the one before him had done.

He had fought on the ground and because of this the troops located on other locations couldn't get orders fast enough.

The defence against the ancient enemies would have worked better if they could have coordinated their attacks.

Noselee was standing aboard a cruiser under his personal command and he intended to win this battle.

"The containment teams have failed to fend of the ancients enemies." The soldier next to him said.

---------------------------------

Ranma and Guilty Spark appeared in the control room. They stopped at the main console.

"My role in this particular endeavour has come to an end. Protocol doesn't allow units of my classification to perform a task as important as the reunification of the Index with the core."

Guilty Spark turned towards Ranma.

"That final step is reserved for you, Reclaimer."

Ranma accepted the Index and then placed it in an empty slot. The console flashed and then went silent again.

"Strange, that wasn't supposed to happen." Guilty Spark sounded confused.

Cortanas hologram appeared, it was over a hundred feet.

Ranma knew directly that she was pissed, _really _pissed, the kind of pissed that made even a Spartan edge away.

"OH REALLY!" She made a gesture towards Guilty Spark and he flew through the air and hit the floor with a clatter.

The AI stood with her hand on her hips and frowned at the Spartan.

"I spent hours cooped up in here watching that thing prepare to slit our throats."

Guilty Spark hummed to life and was soon floating in the air again.

"Hold on, he's a friend." Ranma said to the enraged AI.

"Oh, I didn't realize, he's you pal is he? Your buddy? Do you have any idea what that bastard almost made you do!"

"Yes. Activate Halos defences and wipe out the Flood, which is why we brought the Index to the control room." Ranma said patiently.

Cortana held the Index in her hand.

"You mean this?" Cortana said.

"A construct in the core? That is totally unacceptable!" Guilty Spark said.

"Fuck off." Cortana said with a growl.

"What impertinence. I will purge you at once!"

"You're sure that's a good idea?" Cortana said as she waved the Index in front of Guilty Spark.

"How dare you? I will..."

"Do what? I have the Index, you can just float and sputter."

"ENOUGH!" Ranma yelled irritated. Both AIs attention turned towards the human cyborg.

"The flood is spreading, if we activate Halos defences we can wipe them out." Ranma continued.

"You have no idea how this ring works do you? Why the Forerunner built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. Human, Covenant, whatever, we are all equally edible. The only way to kill the flood is to starve them to death. That is exactly what Halos designed to do, wipe the universe clean of all organic life. You don't believe me? Ask him." Cortana said and pointed towards Guilty Spark.

"Is it true?" Ranma asked and turned towards Guilty Spark.

"More or less. When activated this ring will have a maximum effective radius of twenty-five billion light years, but when the other follow suit this universe will be quite devoid of life, or at least any life with sufficient bio-mass to sustain the flood." Guilty Spark said.

"But you already knew that. I mean how couldn't you?" Guilty Spark asked genuinely puzzled.

"Forgot that little detail didn't you?" Cortana asked the other AI.

"We followed outbreak containment procedure to the letter. You were with me each step of the way as we handled this crisis."

"Chief, I am picking up movement."

A group of sentinels appeared and turned their aim towards Ranma. The robots were hovering silently over the walkway.

"Why would you hesitate to do what you already done?"

"We need to go, NOW!" Cortana said.

"The last time you asked me, if it was my choice would I do it? Having had considerable time to ponder your query, my answer is yes. There is no choice, we must activate the ring."

"Get us out of here." Cortana said.

"There is too much at stake, if you're unwilling to help... I must insist that you give me the Index." Guilty Spark said.

"That's not going to happen." Ranma said calmly.

"Reclaimer, I am afraid I will have to use force to take Index from you I you don't cooperate."

"I can't allow that." Ranma said and aimed his assault rifle towards Guilty Spark.

"So be it." Guilty Spark turned towards the sentinels.

"Dispose of him." He said and began to float away.

Ranma opened fire on Guilty Spark but when no damage appeared he turned towards the sentinels. Two went down before his rifle went dry.

The things had opened fire with their lasers and were draining his shield quickly. He quickly dove behind a holo-panel for cover. He quickly changed the clip in his rifle and opened fire again. Another three sentinels went down and he finished the last with his pistol. Cortanas hologram was still standing above the console and she looked thankful on Ranma.

Ranma walked up to the panel and located the AIs chip he then looked up at Cortana.

"Good to go?" He asked.

"Give me a moment to put up some security measures, I am going to put up some bugs for Guilty Spark."

"Bugs?" Ranma asked as he scanned the area for more sentinels.

"Nothing fatal unfortunately, but something he will remember us by." She answered the questions with an evil smile.

Cortana quickly downloaded all information in Halos mainframe and mentally clutched her head. That was more information then her processors could handle and she got an AIs version of a headache.

Shaking it off, she then put up the bobby traps on the important systems. Every time Guilty Spark would try and access them he would only get a flood of unusable data. Ranma stepped up and pulled out the chip and then inserted it into his helmet. The cold liquid feeling returned and soon he was hearing Cortana talk inside his head.

"We can't let the monitor activate Halo, and more importantly we can't let the flood leave it. The monitor can't activate the ring without the Index so as long as you are alive and keep it from him we are safe. Stopping the flood will be more difficult, the best course of action would be to destroy the ring. With the available data the best way to do that would be somewhat risky." She said.

"Of course, nothing on this ring is simple." He said with a shrug.

"An explosion of sufficient size would destabilize the ring, and cut through a number of primary systems. We need a nuclear scale detonation however."

"Well, that can become a problem... I can check but I don't think I have any nuclear warheads on me right now." Ranma said and the AI could pick up the faint trace of sarcasm.

"The Pillar of Autumns fusion reactor is still intact and it would be enough to destroy Halo. Unfortunately it has fail-safes even I can't override without the authorisation from the Captain or more precisely his neural implants."

"And how am I going to find him?" Ranma asked.

"That's were your favourite AI come in. During my time in Halo I tried to locate him to help you find him. I got a track from him about the time you reached the Index, he's aboard the Truth and Reconciliation, the bridge to be exact"

"Well then let's get a ride and go to him." Ranma said as he walked towards the control rooms exit.

"No that will take to long."

"You have a better idea?" Ranma asked.

"I can tap into halos teleportation grid. Unfortunately each jump requires a rather consequential amount of energy, and I can't reroute the energy needed from Halo. There may be another way however."

"Something tells me I'm not going to like this." Ranma said.

"I'm pretty sure I can pull the energy from your suit without permanently damaging your shield system and generator. Needles to say I only think we should try this once." She said.

"Agreed, but before you do it can you see if you can contact Alpha base and warn them?"

The AI fell silent for a couple of seconds.

"Warning sent. The base is under heavy Covenant attack, but they will have to make it alone. Our first priority is to stop the flood everything else is secondary." She said.

"Understood."

"One more thing Chief."

"Yes?" He asked.

"Why are you carrying a sword?"

Ranma looked down and saw the blade was still in its scabbard attached to his ammo-belt.

"Forgot about that thing. Guilty Spark said I should take it so it shouldn't fall into the hands of the flood for some reason." He said.

"Ok." Cortana said.

"Give me sec so I can make sure we land in the bridge."

A bright flash surrounded him and once again he disappeared in thin air.

------------------------------------------------

Ontomee, a black-ops elite hurried with the rest of his squad. He was one of the oldest soldiers from his ship, a veteran that had seen more battle then an entire combat unit put together. He had been one of the few survivors from the battle on the human world of Reach with the Angels of Death. Rumour among the troops told that one of the Angels had been aboard the human ship.

He had seen the glassing of the planet but didn't take pride in it, they had only killed unarmed civilians and had found little honour.

"Purity of Mind squad do you hear me?" His commanding officer Noselee asked over the comm.

"Yes your Excellency, we are moving towards the gravity lift to cut off the flood reinforcements."

His commanding officer was standing aboard the New Sight and coordinating the counter offence against the flood on the Truth and Reconciliation.

"You must stop the flood from leaving the ring at all cost. And if you don't then may the gods help us, because if one of those things gets out of there no one else would have the power to stop them." Noselee said

"Yes you Excellency."

He quickly followed the rest of his team and when they entered the room to the gravity lift they found that the lifts control panel was smashed and the lift was in motion. They couldn't turn it off.

"Purity of Body squad what is your status?"

"We are close to the reactor and engine room, but it's filled with those unclean vermin."

"Once you clear it shut the energy to the gravity lift down, the controls are damaged." He said.

The slight glow of the floor and silent whining alerted the Covenant that something was coming up through the gravity lift.

The squad's two hunters took position and began to charge up their fuel rod guns.

Ontomee raised the plasma pistol he had in the left hand and the hilt to his plasma blade in the other.

A thump was heard and then a horde of rotting flesh appeared and charged them. A hail of plasma greeted the flood and they where soon decimated at the loss of an elite and three grunts.

After the first wave came a second, and a third, and a fourth. Soon the constant thump was heard and a never ending stream of flood charged them.

"Hurry up!" He said into his comm.

Ontomme dropped the empty pistol and then with a flick of his wrist activated the blade. The blade seemed to come out of his knuckles. It looked like he was wielding a blue flame as he charged the flood, most of his team was dead by now.

One of the few remaining elites fired at a carrier form, the thing exploded and out of it a large number of the small infection forms appeared from the carcass and overwhelmed the unfortunate elite.

Ontomee slashed at the oncoming flood with desperation.

-------------------------------------------------

Ranma reappeared in what looked like the bridge of a Covenant cruiser, the yellow field of energy still surrounding him. Something was wrong, something as _very_ wrong, and he was just starting to figure out what it was. He looked down to the ceiling and up to the floor, the inside of the ship seemed to be upside down.

The last trace of the yellow teleportation field disappeared and he flipped head over heels and crashed the five metres to the deck.

He had materialized with his feet firmly planted on the bridges ceiling.

"Oh! I see, the coordinate data needs to be...

Ranma slapped the random area of were Cortanas chip was inserted in his helmet.

"Right, sorry." She said a little sheepishly.

Ranma just grumbled a little before standing up to his feet. He searched the floor but couldn't find his assault rifle.

The interior of the ship was purple and it had an oily sheen, only a few lights remained intact. He just shook his head, whoever made a warship with purple interior? But who knew? Maybe the Covenant thought that grey was for wimps.

He quickly returned to the matter at hand, he was in the bridge of a ship. An enemy ship. Filled with Covenant who wanted nothing more then see him dead. And not to forget lots and lots of flood who wanted a piece of him, literary. And he didn't have a weapon.

"Chief, the Captains signals, its close." Cortana said eagerly.

He would have to find a weapon later, the Captain was more important. He walked around the elevated platform in the middle of the room and then began to walk up the ramp leading to it.

At the top he found something that resembled a huge carrier form. Tentacles went to the ceiling and holo-panels keeping the thing upright. It didn't react to Ranmas presence.

He noticed a bulge in the side of the monstrous flood and soon realized he was staring at the horribly distorted face of Jacob Keyes.

"The Captain..." Cortana said sadly and trailed of.

Ranma looked at the monstrous thing in distain and wondered how many of the men and women of the UNSC-had died at the hands of the flood.

"We can't let the flood get of this ring" You know what he'd expect... What he'd want us to do."

"Yes, I know my duty." He said simply and rammed his fist into the face of what was once Captain Jacob Keyes. He pulled out his hand and in it was the captain's neural implant.

He shook the rotting gore from the implant and then placed it inside an empty slot in his helmet.

"It's done. I have the code. Just give me a second to make sure the ship never leaves Halo. She said.

Ranma could see as some of the consoles flashed to life and then went silent again.

"I dumped the coolant-gel for the cooling systems out of their tanks, it will make the engines unusable for anything more then half a minute and then the fail-safes will shut them down for good." She said simply

"Okay, let's go to the hangar bay and get a ride." Ranma said as he moved to the door.

------------------------------------------------------------

Ontomee chopped one of the combat forms in half with his blade and then spun around and cleaved another from its head to toe.

His entire squad was dead, he was the only one left. A plasma bolt slammed into his chest but his shield took most of it. He turned around and slashed downwards at the same time the flood fired again.

The flood fell down to the floor dead and Ontomee clutched his stomach. A round coming from a rifle slammed into his chest and he fell down to the floor.

The flood thought him dead and continued, leaving the wounded Covenant behind.

He knew he was dying, the numbness in his body was telling him that. He grasped his radio and talked into it.

"Purity of Mind is dead, we can not hold them of any longer." He said.

"We cannot gain access to the engine room, we have failed." The elite in the other end said.

He let go of his radio, he prayed to the gods that there would be a warrior that would defeat the flood.

He could feel the slight vibration as the ships engines started up. He cursed, they couldn't let the flood leave the ring. He turned to the side and saw all his dead comrades, lifeless eyes staring back at him.

An image appeared in his mind of a burning golden eye on a warrior holding a sword of light, pearl white wings was slowly flapping behind him. A single feather fell to the ground, covered in blood. As the image became clearer he saw who it was.

It was the Angel of Death, the human in green-armour.

He could feel as the engines abruptly stopped and as the ship began to fall towards the surface of Halo.

He didn't know why but he had the feeling the human was responsible for this. He slowly picked up his radio again and managed to get one single message through before his breath left him. The radio clattered to the floor.

Darkness began to fill his vision. He knew that his final movement was here but he was calm and didn't feel any fear at all.

"If you make it human, if you defeat the ancient enemies you have proved yourself worthy. Worthy of entering paradise with all the other heroes... If you defeat them I would be honoured to call you battle brother." That was his last though before death embraced him.

Onboard the New Sight Noselee wondered what had happened onboard the Truth and Reconciliation. She had tried to lift of but then all her systems went offline and she crashed into Halos surface.

"I want a visual transmission with one of the ground teams, I want to see what's happening down their." Noselee said and turned back to the issue about the Truth and Reconciliation.

The most puzzling thing about the event was the last transmission he had received from the ship.

"The Angel of Death is the one, the hope for a new dawn lies within him."

--------------------------------------------------

The first thing seen was an eighteen kilometre long trench where the Autumn first had touched down. The lowest compartments were all crushed but all in all she seemed relatively intact.

"This thing is falling apart!" Cortana yelled.

"It will hold." Ranma said calmly.

"Were not gonna make it!" She yelled again.

"We will make it." Ranma said yet again calmly.

The banshee they had borrowed from the Covenant was badly damaged and a thick trail of smoke coming from the left side. They where approaching on of the empty lifeboat tubes.

"PULL UP!" She screamed.

Just before entering the tube the banshee made a steep dive and crashed into the side of the Pillar of Autumn. Ranma managed to grab onto and heave himself up to the tube.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you? Cortana said accusingly.

Ranma didn't answer, he didn't want to lie.

"We need to get to the bridge, from there I can initiate the self destruct sequence." Cortana said.

"Which way?" He asked as he looked down both ends of the corridor.

"Right." She said simply.

Making his way through the badly damaged ship he had to fight his way through the monitor's sentinels, the flood and naturally some Covenant.

He was moving towards the mess and from there it should be only a short walk to the bridge.

Taking care of the few flood in the corridor he walked towards the door. When he was about to open it the door was broken down. A Hunter in berserker-state had kicked the 10-centimeter solid titanium door down.

The thing fired but he was able to lean to the left and avoid it.The Hunter roared in rage and slammed his shield into Ranma.

Ranma didn't quite manage to avoid it and he flew ten metres through the air and slammed into a wall.

His shield had managed to take the brunt of that strike so he was soon up on his feet again. The Hunter formed his fist into a ball and then tried to smash Ranma.

Ranma caught the fists and groaned as his tried to stop them from turning him into pulp.

He remembered one of the lessons he had on Reach, never _ever_ go melee with a hunter, but right now he didn't have much choice.

Both behemoths was locked in a desperate struggle and both where holding their ground, the floor under Ranma was beginning to buckle because of the amount of force. In a last attempt he leaned backwards and dragged the hunter with him.

Ranma and the Hunter began to wrestle raining blows on each other. The Hunter was hitting on the same spot on his armour on his chest and it was beginning to dent. Ranma in turn wasn't as lucky as he couldn't really hurt the heavily armoured giant.

Lying on his back on the floor with a Hunter over him and trying to kill him the odds didn't look good.

He managed to get a good grip on the front of the Hunters armour and with the help of his feet he threw the Hunter over his head.

A group of elites entered the corridor, drawn because of the commotion.

He ignored the pain flaring up in his chest and grabbed the nearest weapon, the blade he had been carrying with him. He took the hilt in both hands and the blade flared with blue plasma. He looked surprised at the sword but then shrugged it off and charged the elites.

A quick slash and the head of an elite fell to the deck. A downward slash and the chest of another of the aliens opened, the flesh sizzling. The last elite fell as Ranma stabbed the blade right through the neck of and killed him immediately.

He turned toward the Hunter who was about to stand up, and with a quick a swipe a huge gash appeared on the helmet of the giant.

As the last Covenant fell down to the floor he looked approvingly on the weapon, the only drawback was that he needed to get close to use it.

He checked his armour and saw that the damaged done was only superficial and nothing major. The blows from the Hunter had broken three of his ribs but he could feel his body already beginning to heal them. In an hour they would be healed and the only thing left would be a rather nasty bruise.

Ignoring the pain that flared up in his chest he re-sheathed the blade and picked up a functional assault rifle.

"That was close, please be more careful." She said and sighed in relief.

"You know me." He said simply.

Cortana fell silent for a second.

"Please be really careful." She said again.

Ranma didn't say anything.

He then continued on his way towards the bridge.

----------------------------------------------

Sergeant Harrison fired his rifle into the chest of one of those things, and after putting most of his clip into it the thing fell to the ground dead.

He and his team had been third squad with the captains mission but when they where attacked and lost contact with the rest of the squads they had been on their own.

They had managed to leave the swamp on foot and then came across an abandoned Covenant camp. Borrowing some of their vehicles they had managed to make their way back to Alpha base.

Unfortunately the entire base was more or less destroyed and everyone was dead. They had found traces after a battle, numerous corpses after human, Covenant and flood.

After searching through the base and picked up some remaining weapon they had decided to get to the Pillar of Autumn and search for a way of the ring.

Unfortunately the Flood attacked and they had to pull back towards the entrance of what remained of the Forerunner structure.

They had fought back numerous minor assaults from the Flood, but they had gotten stronger and stronger each time.

Two Covenant dropships had landed, to take care of the Flood Harrison had though and he was right.

As soon as the hatches had opened the Flood had attacked. Only a small group of Covenant survived the onslaught and they had taken cover behind a barricade of crates some fifty metres to his left.

Without a word being said between them, both groups hadn't fired a single shot at each other.

A new wave of Flood charged the two groups, mostly concentrated towards the Covenant.

The LAAG gun they had found on a wreck of a warthog filled the air with metal and dealt with the flood effectively.

The Covenant didn't have the same luck, they where being overrun.

The marine standing behind the LAAG took initiative and opened fire on the Flood, and the LAAG was soon followed by the rattle numerous MA5B rifles.

The round tore into the unprotected flank of the Flood and they fell in numbers. The flood turned their attention towards the humans and began to charge them but was cut down by plasma fire coming from the Covenant.

They didn't get time to celebrate their victory because a new wave of Flood attacked.

The LAAG thundered but it only slowed the inevitable. The Flood overwhelmed the Covenants position.

A red elite wielding a plasma blade slashed apart a Flood and then turned towards the humans.

He looked at them for a second and then lowered his blade and saluted in the Covenant fashion, holding his hand to his chest. He thanked the humans for the help rendered.

Harrison locked eyes with the alien and then saluted him. It was at that moment he wondered if the Covenant and Human was as different as everyone thought. He could see the elite make a last desperate charge into the thick of battle.

He soon fell to the unstoppable flood onslaught.

Every flood had turned their attention towards the humans and they where soon overrun. As Harrison saw the last of his men die he stopped backing away and then charged meeting the same and as the elite.

The human and alien had come to a silent agreement, they would met their end fighting, an agreement between the two enemies that they took with them to their grave.

Onboard the New Sight many of the elites that had seen the events transpire where fuming in anger, the elite had committed heresy by not attacking the human vermin.

Only one elite wasn't listening to the others rants about treachery and heresy. This event had increased the felling of doubt that was growing in Noselee stomach.

He quickly shock those thought out of his mind and turned to more important matters. The flood was still trying to get off the ring and they couldn't allow that.

------------------------------------

Ranma pulled out Cortana's chip out of his helmet and then inserted it into the control panel.

Her hologram appeared on the small pillar at the main view screen. She looked around on the bridge where Ranma had fought group of grunts.

"I leave home for a few days and look what happens."

She fell silent and it looked like she was thinking. The main view screen flashed to life and a count-down timer started.

"There, that should give us enough time to make it to a life boat and put some distance between ourselves and Halo before the detonation."

"I am afraid that's out of the question dear." Ranma could hear Guilty Sparks voice over the comm.

"Oh hell." Cortana said and groaned.

"Ridiculous that you imbue your warships AI with such a wealth of knowledge. Wouldn't you worry that it might be captured? Or destroyed?"

"He's in my data arrays, a local tap."

The Monitor was accessing some of the low level files and copying them down into his own memory unit.

"You can't imagine how exciting this is! To have a record of all of our lost time, human history is it? Fascinating. Oh, how I will enjoy every moment of its categorization. To think that you would destroy this installation as well as this record. I am shocked, almost to shocked for words."

The count down timer stopped.

"He stopped the self destruct sequence." Cortana warned.

"Why do you continue to fight us Reclaimer? You cannot win. Surrender the construct to me or I will be forced to take you offline permanently..."

Guilty Sparks voice was cut of.

"At least I still have control over the comm-channels." Cortana said.

"Where is he?" Ranma asked.

"I'm detecting taps throughout the ship, sentinels most likely. As for the Monitor, he's in engineering. He must be trying to take the core off-line. I can't get the count-down restarted... I don't know what to do." She said.

Ranma looked at the AI for a second and then asked.

"How much firepower would you need to crack one of the reactors shield?" He asked.

Cortana put her hand to her forehead and then closed her eyes and scanned her data base for information regarding the fusion core.

"Not much... A well placed grenade perhaps. But Why?" She asked and opened her eyes.

Ranma held a frag-grenade in his hand and then tossed it up in the air and caught it again.

The Ai's eyes widened in understanding.

"Okay let's go."

--------------------------------------------

Ranma pressed a quick combination on a panel and then a one of the huge exhaust pipes opened, giving him a view of the burning inside of the reactor.

"Step one complete! We have a straight shoot into the fusion reactor. We need a catalytic explosion to destabilize the magnetic containment field surrounding the fusion cell."

"Oh, and here I though I should just throw a grenade in a hole." He said.

"That's what I said."

Ranma just shrugged and threw two grenades, for good measure, into the open hatch, and quickly stepped away.

The grenades exploded and bit of shrapnel pinged off his armour.

"One down three to go!" Cortana yelled over the noise.

------------------------------------------

"Your Excellency, we have lost contact with four of the eight squads stationed on the human ship." A young elite said as he read the incoming data.

Noselee turned from where he was overlooking the reports on Flood activity. He walked over and looked down on the information displayed before him.

"Contact the other squads and make a scan of the ship." He ordered.

-----------------------------------------

"Now let's get outside and signal for evac!" Cortana yelled over the warning sirens wail.

Ranma had thrown a grenade into the last reactor.

"Which way?" Ranma asked.

"There is a service lift that will lead us to a class seven service corridor that runs along the ships structure, the hatch is right on your left." She said.

He quickly ran through the door and took care of the Covenant who was standing on the elevator.

He pressed the button and could fell as the lift began to shoot upwards.

"Cortana to Echo Four-Nineteen, come in Echo Four-Nineteen."

"_I hear you Cortana." _Ranma could hear Foehammers voice over the radio.

"The Autumns engines are going critical Foehammer, we need extraction now! Be ready to pick us up at external access junction Four-C as soon as you get my signal" Cortana said into the comm.

"_Roger that. Cortana things are getting noisy down there, is everything okay!"_

"Negative! We have a wild cat destabilization of the ships fusion core!"

The lift stopped and Ranma ran through the door.

"Chief, we have six minutes before the fusion drives detonate. We need to evacuate now! The explosion will generate a temperature of almost one hundred million degrees. Don't be there when it blows!"

He ran into a bay full of warthogs and quickly jumped in. He made a hard left and put the pedal to the metal and began to race through the massive corridor.

The timer on his HUD was counting down fast and he pressed the pedal even more in hope of bringing out a little more engine power.

A elite was sucked under the forwards tires and chunks of flesh were sprayed from behind the hog.

---------------------------------------

"Your Excellency, we have lost contact with the other teams aboard the vessel and scans indicate a high amount of energy activity, and heat signature is climbing."

Noselee looked on the display and his eyes widened.

"Get the ships out of the ring atmosphere immediately!" He said and turned towards the comm. Officer.

He nodded and then began to talk into the radio.

"Your Excellency, the Prophets wants to meet you in an audience to explain yourselves." The Elite said and turned towards his commanding officer

"There is no time! Order the other ships under my command to leave the ring immediately." Noselee couldn't believe the arrogance of the Prophets.

"Your Excellency..."

"Do it, I will take the full responsibility." He said calmly.

He nodded and soon the affirmative from the four other ships under his command was heard over the comm.

The flight officer turned towards Noselee.

"It will take the techs ten units bring the engines online, your Excellency."

"Tell them they will get relocated to the containment teams if they don't do it in two." He said.

-------------------------------------

"Wait, here is where Foehammer is going to pick us up. Hold position here.

To the left he could see E-419 fly towards their location, but something was wrong. Thick plumes of smoke were trailing behind the pelican and she was wobbling from side to side. Following the pelican was a Covenant banshee, firing twin trails of plasma towards the ship.

He could hear Foehammers frantic screams as the pelicans left engine exploded and the ship made a step dive. The ship slammed into the hull of the Pillar of Autumn and exploded in a fireball.

"Cortana, new plan NOW!" Ranma yelled as he jumped back into the jeep.

"Ships inventory shows that one longsword interceptor is still docked in launch bay seven. If we move now we can make it."

Ranma pressed the warthog to its limits to reach the ship in time. He had four minutes before the Autumn would explode and he had to travel one and a half kilometre and then leave the ring atmosphere.

Even though the Autumn with it's three point one kilometres was one of the smallest ships in the human fleet to Ranma it felt as it was the biggest thing in the universe.

The range on the nav-marker was decreasing and so was the count-down timer. Unfortunately to him it looked like the timer would hit zero first.

"Up ahead there is a gap in the structure, at top speed we should make it" Cortana said.

Ranma didn't disappoint and put in the highest gear and hit the pedal.

They travelled up a small ramp and was then in the air. They had cleared about half off the space when the warthog began to descend. The hog, Ranma and Cortana fell eight stories before crashing into a ledge. The front was totally demolished and Ranma's legs were stuck.

Cursing in every language he knew he tried to get out but failed. He looked around for anything useful and managed to grab the sword that he still was carrying.

He activated it and used the burning plasma to clear away the parts of the warthog that had him trapped.

He took off in a sprint towards the ship, running as fast as he could manage. Jumping over a three meter trench and going through a tunnel.

He jumped over a couple of supply crates and could see the longsword at the end of the hangar. Unfortunately the bay was covered in Flood and Covenant.

"HURRY, WE NEED TO GET ABOARD NOW!"

Throwing all caution out the window he ran right through the fire-fight and up the ramp leading to the craft.

He ran up the open ramp into the ship and slammed his fist into the close button. He turned around and could see that numerous Flood had been following him. The ramp closed and he ran up towards the cockpit. An explosion rocketed the Autumn and Ranma staggered. He jumped into the pilot's seat and began to bring the engines online.

He could hear the engines start up. Using the small jets on the underside of the ship, he turned the craft 180 degrees so that it was facing the open hangar bay doors.

"Here we go." He said seemingly calmly. She marvelled at the Spartans emotion or almost total lack thereof, she herself was almost hysteric by now.

He hit the throttle forward all the way and the pushed the engines to their limit. The gees forces pushed him back into the seat as the craft shoot out of the Autumn like a bullet.

A small compact sun bloomed on the surface of Halo as the Autumn's fusion reactor finally went critical. The thermonuclear sphere carved a 20 kilometre crater into the super dense material of the ringworld.

Ranma could see and hear as the longswords engines were beginning to overheat.

"Shut them down, we will need them later:" Cortana said.

He nodded and shut all major systems down.

"A last look on Halo?" She said with something in her voice, her voice was unsteady and silent.

The Spartan finally realized what it was, it was sorrow. He himself been unable to feel sorrow for years, so to him it was a foreign emotion.

He realized then that out him and Cortana, she was probably most human, she had emotions, she had feelings, something Ranma had turned down long ago to become a more efficient soldier. He and the rest of the Spartans didn't want feelings to interfere with their missions, so they kept them under strict control.

He looked out the window and could see the ball of light on the surface of Halo.

The ball expanded one final time and then exploded and sent powerful shockwaves rippling through the structure. Both up and down spin a compact wall of white light travelled and sterilized the surface, turning the seas and forests into black desert. All the light from the explosion disappeared and about half the lands on Halo had been turned into a wasteland.

The ring continued spinning, but with the forces exerted on the weak point that the explosion had left, the ring slowly tore itself apart. A 800 kilometre part broke away from the ring and slowly made its way towards the opposite side. The part slammed into what remained of the structure and shattered it into dozen of smaller pieces.

Explosions began to appear on the ring and soon the rings own reactors began to go critical.

One of the reactors exploded and turned a part of the ring into debris. Numerous secondary explosions followed and soon nothing more then molten metal and debris remained of Halo.

"Did anyone else make it?" He asked calmly.

"Scanning." She said her voice still had sorrow in it.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the cockpit.

"Just... just dust and echoes. We are all that's left." She said with strain, pain and sorrow in her voice.

The Spartan closed his eye and shock his head silently. Everyone was dead, just like the children he had been raised with, just like a part of himself.

He felt a stab of regret, but this time he didn't crush it.

"We did what we had to do... for Earth. An entire Covenant armada obliterated, and the flood... We had no choice. Halo, it's finished." She sounded like she was trying to justify what had happened and convince herself.

Ranma sat back into the seat and looked out the window, but this time at the sea of stars displayed before him. Even since he was a child he had taken comfort in looking at the stars, and now he was closer to them then ever.

It was ironic that the thing that gave him most comfort was also the thing that gave him most fear. Somewhere in the serene sea the Covenant was still present, and threatened to destroy the thing he had sworn to protect at all cost, mankind.

He removed his helm and looked down on the damaged seal at the neck, and then put a finger to the wound on the back of his neck. The wound was healing but it was still throbbing uncomfortably.

A flood infection form had attacked him when his shield had been down and had managed to get close enough to use one of it tentacles to penetrate the armour. He had barely been able to get the thing off. Hopefully the flood was a closed chapter, but he wasn't so sure, they were exceptionally hard to kill.

Ranma placed the helmet next to him and brushed his hands through the almost nonexistent hair.

He sunk down in the seat and allowed himself to let his emotions surface, the mission was over, he could allow himself that for a moment. He closed his eyes tightly and gripped the armrest with enough pressure to bend the metal. A deep sigh escaped his lips and he finally answered Cortana.

"No, I think were just getting started." He opened his eyes, cold blue orbs with a tinge of red looking out at the sea of stars like looking at an enemy far away. Not even Cortana's advanced sensors could manage to detect any sign of emotion in his voice.

**Authors notes:**

This became a little bit longer then expected.

The next chapter will be about what happened on Halo during the fall of the forerunner.


	11. Stray Soldiers

**Disclaimer: I don't own this so can the black van standing outside my house please leave?**

**The Halo of the Hero.**

**Chapter 11- Stray soldiers.**

_Being the sole survivor from a battle can be the most traumatic experience for a soldier. Without the solace and understanding from others who have been through the same thing a man cannot deal with the transpired events and his dreams will be haunted by nightmares for years to come. _

_-Unknown-_

A lone longsword fighter was slowly drifting through the huge debris field left from Halo's destruction. Both engines, lights, even most of the life-support systems were offline to conserve energy, the only source of light was coming from a single screen that cast an eerie green light over the cockpit, and its single human resident, the Master Chief.

One of the very few systems that was online was the scanners and of course the AI Cortana.

She finished another scan, but once again came up with nothing. She started another scan and then turned to more important matters, Halo.

Many things unsettled her about Halo, among them was the fact that Guilty Spark had spoken about the fact that it was installation Zero-Four, and that I meant that there could possibly exist others.

She began to sort through the different files she had found in the Halo mainframe, most were weapon schematics, designs and such, and would be extremely valuable to the UNSC-scientists, but right now that wasn't what she was looking for, she was looking for some kind of history or journal to explain what the hell had happened before the Pillar of Autumn and the Covenant arrived.

She knew that Halo was built by some alien race best translated as "the Forerunner" to destroy the Flood, but she didn't know what had happened besides that.

And why had Guilty Spark said that the Halo had been activated once before? That would mean that it had been activated before...

Cortana stopped what she was doing, she didn't like where her plane of thoughts were moving. Realisation began to dawn on her, if Halo had been fired once before as Guilty Spark had said, then Earth and all its life would have been wiped out, but it wasn't.

That meant that the Halo must have been activated long before there had appeared even the most basic form of life on Earth.

She continued to search her memory unit, working fast to go through all information from Halo.

She found what she was looking for, and began to open the folder.

She was hit with a flood of information, and she began to sort through it to find out what had happened....

Once the Flood had spread to such degree that it was impossible to hope for victory the Forerunner decided to leave through the dimension gates and then sterilize the entire sector using the Halos. Using some of the already existing ring shaped gates they reconstructed them to serve as weapon platforms.

But the Flood attacked one of them only hours before the generators would be brought online. Due to that both the shields and smaller defences were inactive the flood had an open way to the gateway and control room.

The flood was trying to use the gateway to spread to the other locations that the Forerunner had visited, but in a final moment of clarity the Reclaimer activated the count down timer to hit zero as soon as the generators were activated. He then took the Index, the key to both the gateway and primary weapon and sealed it inside the library. He then, not being protected with the reclaimer serum, succumbed from the wounds inflicted on him and died. The Flood sensing the activation of the ring hurried to the underground shelters for protection from the lethal blast.

The ring fired and whipped out an entire civilization on the blink of an eye, leaving the children to fight among themselves and the deadly Flood sealed beneath the ring's surface.

She sorted through additional files, containing various reports on the Forerunner war effort, strategies, tactics, weapon designs, troop movements and resources.

But in the end that had proved of little help when encountering the flood, the multiple special weapons programs that had been meant to fight had taken to long time or had been laid on ice, in the end the only alternative was to activate the Halos.

Cortana finished the various reports, but the reference to the gateway puzzled her. What was it? She went through the report again but didn't find anything concerning it.

She just shook her holographic head, there wasn't any meaning in digging into a war that had ended long before Earth even existed, not when she was in the middle of losing one right now.

Even though Ranma had said different she was pretty sure the Flood was a closed chapter, and she was thankful for that. The Forerunner report on the Flood had been anything but pleasant.

The Covenant was friendly and peaceful in comparison if she could trust the report.

**Analyse on alien life form named "The Flood."**

It is with grim news I write this report to you, the analyze has brought up numerous things and none of them good.

The dead specimen I have studied has revealed the danger the Flood is to us.

It is I highly adaptable life form, given time it could come up with natural resistance to almost anything, changing it's genetic structure in only a small amount of time.

When it came in contact with the dead forerunner tissue it absorbed it giving it the ability to assimilate any and all Forerunner life forms.

Our own immune systems doesn't work because of this and any attempt to cure an infected individual with either scientific or ki, chi, psi, ethereal, or elemental means has proved fruitless.

Not only is the Flood a lethal virus with 100 casualty rate, the virus will change the DNA structure of the victim, completely whipping out the mind that once inhabited the body. The soul will be completely destroyed beyond restoration.

Studying numerous reports from our military and naval departments I have been able to piece together how the Flood usually proceeds when conquering a world.

The first flood to land on a planet are usually small spores, easily killed when travelling in small numbers, but unfortunately they never travel in small numbers. These small spores will land in uninhabited areas to avoid detection, in this stage of development the flood are easily dealt with.

The spores will then infect isolated hosts and continue to grow their numbers. These hosts are turned into what could be described as combat forms, looking like rooting corpses. The flood combat forms are extremely hard to kill, reports of Flood with up till 50 tissue damage still attacking has been confirmed. The Flood DNA will increase the speed and strength of the hosts up to 400.

During the first 30 minutes after that the combat forms has appeared the death tolls will increase dramatically.

After some time the combat form will turn itself into a carrier form and spawn more spores.

Now that the flood has combat and carrier forms they will make their presence know to the world they had infested. The Flood will attack and destroy any signs of life they come across, gathering more hosts for infection.

The Flood are in this stage pretty mindless and savage, relying on superior numbers and not tactic to win their fights. They don't have any grasp of any of their energy abilities.

After the flood has assimilated enough genetic material their will be an increased understanding and the Flood will become smarter. This is the last stage of the floods lifecycle, the hosts that are now infected will be almost impossible to recognize from a normal individual, only a full medical scan would have any hope on revealing a flood and yet it isn't 100 reliable.

They have been able to hide their Flood genetics, their auras and magical signatures are completely identical with their hosts.

These Flood has the full understanding, memory, knowledge and powers that there hosts had, making them use their powers against us. A single such "doppelganger" has been known to infect entire ships, and turn our own weapons against us.

The first landing of the Flood and up to the infection of the last citizen of the planet may take between 2 weeks up till 4 months, depending on the amount of flood and hosts.

There are some cases where global infection has taken under 24 hours, but such events are rare.

This was the three lifecycles of a flood. The first time the flood went through this cycle it took longer to evolve to the third stage, about 30-60 years if my calculations are correct, and that is also the amount of time needed to assimilate any new genetic material.

As the things are looking now we are having only very little time to act upon this threat. Even though the High Elders different works are looking promising I think we should concentrate on a more realistic solution. Even though testing has shown the extreme potential in these programs we simply don't have the time to put pull them through.

The best choice would probably be the Recliamer or Halo projects, only a massive sterilisation will end this threat once and for all.

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Ranma gazed out on what remained of Halo, a huge debris field surrounding the single longsword fighter left from the pillar of autumn.

Bent and schorched metal, small drops of flash freezed water and dust were floating all around the ship, the only reminder of the thing that not longer than half an hour ago had been the worst threat to humanity, even more so then the Covenant.

The only thing seen from the longswords windows was the slowly floating debris.

Ranma had deactivated all the systems except for Cortana and the scanners, trying desperately to find any sign of other survivors.

While Cortana was busy working on that Ranma was trying to repair his Mjolnir armour. Concentrating mostly on the tear on the neck seal he managed to close it up, but it would only be temporally. The armour needed a full check through but right now it wasn't possible.

Placing the now repaired helmet on the seat next to him he flexed his shoulders to get the stiff and tired feeling out of him. Right now he was too tired to try and fix the rest of his armour, he was too tired and when one was tired one made mistakes. Mistakes on the Mjolnir armour almost always proved lethal on the wearer.

He contemplated the events tacking place on Halo, the loss of so many soldiers, so many deaths. Then there was the Flood... something he would like to forget. He clenched his fist and then calmed down, he couldn't let his emotions run rampant, that would only lead to his and others deaths on the battlefield.

But right now he didn't have time to think about it emotional state, worrying about it now served no useful purpose.

It had been only three weeks since they arrived in the system, three weeks since they had landed on Halo, and for him three weeks of almost non-stop fighting, he may have gotten 10 hours rest during his entire time on Halo. Even with his genetic enhancements and implants he had been pushed to his limits and beyond, the only thing keeping him on his feet was his stubbornness, the combat stims had lost their effect long ago.

He had been tired many times before, but nothing like this, his body was beyond exhaustion.

The battle of Halo had been the hardest and most traumatic in his entire military career and it was easily seen on his armour.

The once shining green surface had now a dull olive green colour, here and there littered with scratches and dents. There were some few patches from bullet impacts and scorch marks coming from Covenant plasma.

He looked out the window and was met with his own reflection. His eyes had round black rings and were bloodshot, showing clearly due to the lack of rest.

The adrenaline rush he had felt during the last minutes of his escape was disappearing quickly and was leaving his body not responding to his commands.

"Chief, the area is cleared from any hostiles, you should probably rest. The mission is over." Cortana's voice said over the speakers.

"Yes, I suppose so.... And Cortana." He said and looked out the window once again.

"Yes, Chief?" She asked.

"When off duty you can call me Ranma. All my friends do." He said tiredly, and remembered Reach and the rest of the Spartans. As things looked now Cortana would be the only one that knew his real name.

"Yes...Ranma." She said and tried to use the unfamiliar name. It felt strange, she had used "Master Chief" or "sir" the entire time when addressing him, sure she knew his real name but it just felt wrong using it.

He settled down in the pilots seat, his large frame being too bulky to fit into the seat properly. He closed his eyes and feel into a deep sleep, a MA5B assault rifle clutched tightly in his hands.

-----------------------------

"Report!" Nosolee yelled and stood up from where he had been thrown onto the deck.

A young elite who stood at one of the intact consoles began to type away to get the status on the ship.

"Your Excellency.... the ring.... It's gone. And the rest of the fleet went with it. 60 of the compartments are decompressed, most of the crew dead. The main core is not working and the power supply is badly damaged." He said and whispered a short prayer for the lives lost.

"The other ships under my command?" he asked.

The young elite typed in some commands and then turned towards his officer.

"The Resounding Justice and Unending Peace aren't answering any of my attempts to hail them, perhaps their communication relays are malfunctioning, without scanners I can't determine for sure. The Divine Prayer and Resolved Righteousness are answering, but they are in similar position as us, they are reporting badly damaged systems and malfunctioning equipment."

Nosolee nodded and turned towards the main engineer, who was working fast to get an accurate damage report and fix the faults that could be fixed. He had needed to dump the plasma core into space to avoid the engines going critical. The slip space engine would need extreme amounts of repairs before working, and the standard engine was almost completely fried in their fast escape.

"How long before we are capable of star flight again?" Nosolee asked the elite.

"Numerous cycles, maybe as much as one moon unit. I think we can decrease the time if we concentrate on the essential systems, like engines and life support and leave the weapon and shield systems for later repair once back in dry dock" He said and tried once again to asset the damage done.

Nosolee cursed one of the vilest curses of his species tongue.

"You're Excellency, we should thank the Ancients to be alive. The blast melted all our shield systems and damaged most of our hull. Had we left the atmosphere just a moment later we wouldn't be here." He said as he went through the readings again.

Nosolee nodded grumpily, the officer was trying his best to give him good news and for that he was thankful, it didn't help matters to be angry at his remaining crew.

"Begin the important repairs.... And send out two small teams to the Resounding Justice and Unending Peace to find out their current situation." He said and left the bridge, heading for his personal chambers. He could see the floating forms of some Covenant engineers working on the damaged places of the ship.

The Covenant were a collective of alien races, with the elites and prophets at the top in the Covenant hierarchy. Then there were the small grunts, who formed the bulk of the Covenant forces and the huge Hunters who used their mighty frame to carry heavy weapons to the battlefield, and the Jackals who with their more refined senses acted as scouts.

Then there was the engineers, squid-like beings with their bodies filled with pockets of gas, making them levitate a small bit over the ground. These creatures were something rare, having the ability to assemble and disassemble any kind of gear in the matter of seconds. They seemed totally indifferent to anything besides repairing things, paying no head to enemies near them whatsoever.

The door to his quarters closed with a hiss behind him, and he walked over to a simply matt lying on the floor.

Settling in a meditative stance, his gold helmet resting on the floor next to him he began a slow and calm hymn. He closed his eyes and fell into a deep trance, trying to clear his mind of the images of his brethren slaughtered by the horrifying Flood, the screams of anguish from dieing warriors, and then finally when the shells of once mighty warriors rose from death, their forms mutilated beyond recognition.

He tried, and failed miserably, the terror of the flood was haunting his dreams, and would continue to do it for years to come.

-------------------------------------------

"Cortana?" Ranma said and looked down on the single working console.

"I have already scanned it, there is nothing out there. Just dust, debris and radio echoes." She said once again.

Ranma sighed, they had been stuck almost two weeks at the debris field from Halo.

"Cortana, begin another scan." He said simply and turned towards his helmet. The HUD had stopped working a day ago and once he pulled it apart he found out why. The circuits had been fried, rendering the entire helmet almost useless. He couldn't repair it without some new parts. He was just thankful that the radio and AI slot still worked properly.

The rest of his armour wasn't in any better condition, the plating was dented in numerous places and restricted his movement somewhat, and the temperature regulator was offline, making the thing feel like oven.

Most of the faults he had managed to fix, but only temporally. The Flood and Covenant had busted his armour up pretty badly, he would need to change it as soon as possible.

"Sir, there is nothing out there. I have scanned the debris field for two weeks, and found nothing." The AI said a little irritated.

"Cortana, the longsword is too small to have slip-space engine or cryo tube, and the air, power, food, water and fuel reserves will only last so long. If we don't find anything soon we are dead." He said and turned towards Cortana's face on the console.

Cortana just shook her head, the cyborg was right of course but what chances would there be to find anything now? Following his orders she began to scan the area again.

Ranma meanwhile was working on his HUD, but to no avail, the thing was and would continue to be offline. The main information core was working, it was just the damned display that was busted.

He shook his head in dismay, and began to pull apart the entire helmet. He found what he was looking for, the audio and video cables. He began the long work of rerouting the cables from the HUD screen to the Neural Command Interface.

Taking out the small tool kit that was located in a small compartment of the armour he placed it in front of him and opened it.

Taking out some needles with wires attached to them, he pushed one of them into a slit on the longswords computer. The other end of the wire he pressed into a small similar slot on his Mjolnir helmet. He then used another wire to connect his fusion pack with the helmet to power it.

"What are you doing?" Cortana asked over the speakers.

Ranma looked on the face of the AI displayed on the console before answering.

"I am making a temporally solution to my damaged HUD." He answered and continued with his work.

The face of Cortana disappeared to be replaced by a screen filled with seemingly random numbers and letters. He entered a small command and a moment later the screen flashed green.

He then removed the needle from the helmet and brought it up to the back of his neck. Without hesitating he pushed the needle through the skin of his neck and into the Neural implant. He began to type in some commands but was interrupted by Cortana.

"You know that the fact that you have a bunch of wires sticking out of you head is creepy right?" He could hear Cortana say in morbid fascination.

"This is nothing unusual, the same thing happens each time I put my helmet on." He said and turned back to the keyboard.

The screen flashed green once again and he nodded to himself, and closed his eyes.

"But still... The way you sit there with the wires attached to your neck and type on the computer... It's just surreal. It makes you look... I don't know..." She said and trailed off.

"Inhuman perhaps?" He said, but there wasn't any sign of humour or amusement in his voice, it sounded like he stated a fact.

Inside the computer the projected image of Cortana jumped up into the air. As he had said it his lips hadn't moved at all, and the sound hadn't come from her external receivers but from somewhere behind her.

She turned around and came face to face with a holographic projection of the Chief. He was clad in his Mjolnir suit but without any damage. The helmet was hanging form his belt and he had a MA5B Assault Rifle slung over his shoulder, even though here the armour and weapon would be of no use.

The only difference from the real thing was the fact that he was ghostly transparent, with information scrolling across his body, his skin was changing colour, going from blue to red to purple. The only thing that had a constant colour was his eyes, which were ice blue.

Even though there weren't any real measurements here he would in real life have towered at least one and a half feet over her.

Her eyes widened in shook, there was no way in hell that a human could become digital.

"This is impossible, a human can't take an digital form?" Was the only thing she was able to get out.

"Well you are right, I cannot take a digital form. As you can see my form here isn't corporeal." He said and pushed his hand through her chest. His face took a look of concentration and he pushed her once again, but this time she could feel something best described as cold water passed through her.

"It takes extreme amounts of concentration to even make the smallest difference."

Cortana turned towards the projection of the Chief and tried to scan him, but could only feel emptiness were he was standing.

"But how?" She said.

"This was part of the Mjolnir suit. As you might now we Spartans are able, with the help of our Neural implants, to regulate our combat suits systems mentally. Doctor Hasley wanted us to be able to quickly access information and computer systems so the Implant works two ways. First we can take care of incoming information much like a normal Neural implant, and second we can also send information, which is something new" He said and looked interested on his hands and body.

"So how much can you do? Are you some kind of AI? She asked interested.

"No, think of this form as something like your holographic body in the physical world, I am limited to watch the events. I can do a few things, but not much, I simply have too many restrictions and boundaries. The reason for this is the incompatibility between an organic brain and an inorganic computer, it has to do with the sync ratio. The higher my sync ratio is, the higher the compatibility, and the higher my skill will be." He said unemotionally and walked over towards were a screen was flashing.

Cortana could see that he couldn't access the screen quite as quick as an AI or even programs, but he still managed to do it, despite human inaccuracy.

The stats on his helm came up and she could see the highlighted area on the back of its neck.

"How come you never have done this before, and how are you able to see me?" She asked as Ranma was surveying the information.

"The reason is that it simply isn't to any real use right now. The only real advantage we have is that we can't be deleted like a program or AI. Then there is the fact that any person who does this has the strange feeling of being in two places at the same time, something akin to split personality. I feel what my body feels, I see what my body feels and I see what my body sees, so it can't really be used in combat, it would decrease my awareness. As for how I can see you, well my optical implants makes that possible. And that's the reason I am here doing this, I am trying to reroute my HUD directly to my optical implants." He said and turned towards the screen once again.

"What are you doing exactly?" She asked and leaned to the side of him to see the screen.

"I am doing a small calibration of my HUD to be on the same frequency as my Neural implant." He said and looked down on the smaller AI.

Cortana had to admit that it was more impressive to actually stand in front of a Spartan than being inside the head of one. A looming giant that could rip a man apart with their bare hands, trained and had experience that could equal an entire squad of ODST, a killer out to his very fingertips, showing absolutely no mercy and would complete a mission at all costs.

She understood now why the Covenant feared the Spartans, Angle of Death indeed.

Ranma nodded and then vanished in mid air.

Left inside the longsword's computer systems was a confused AI. She shook her head and then began to go through the Spartan files once again, Ranma had done nothing but surprise her since the first time they met.

Ranma opened his eyes and shook his head to get rid of the nauseating felling. He slowly removed the needle and then picked up his helmet. Sliding it on he could feel a sharp stab of pain as the needle inside it connected with his implant.

He could see as his HUD flashed up, showing his vital and armour stats, the return of the HUD was accompanied by a burning feeling in his eyes, but he didn't even flinch. The burning slowly disappeared, the only thing remaining was a small stinging sensation.

---------------------------------------------

Nosolee stood upon the elevated platform of the bridge on the New Sight. The repairs on the vessel had gone without any major drawbacks. The holes in the hull had been mended, the power cables had been fixed and the reactor was about to be brought online.

As for the other four ships under his command, the Resounding Justice and Unending Peace had been damaged beyond repair and only a small amount of the crew survived. The Resolved Righteousness and Divine Prayer were in the same position as the New Sight, badly damaged but still operating.

His mind drifted away to the events that had led up to their current situation.

He couldn't understand how it was possible, in the end the humans had destroyed Halo, killing their own soldiers just to make sure that the Flood never would leave the installation.

How could that be? The Humans were supposed to be allies with the enemies of the ancients, but in the end it was the Humans actions that destroyed them.

Something wasn't right. The tales and stories he had been told as youngling seemed more and more illogical.

---------------------------------------------------

"Sir, I think I found something. When I sorted through the numerous echoes I found one that hadn't gotten any weaker since the last scan. It was a Class 4 distress signal." She said interested.

"Where is it coming from?" He said, but didn't get his hope up to much, there was the chance it was just some left over UNSC-equipment.

"I am trying to pinpoint it now but all the other echoes are interfering with the scan." She said frustrated.

Ranma just leaned back in his chair, there was nothing he could do to help.

"There... The signal is coming from one of the larger wreckage pieces from Halo." She said and a nav-point appeared on the console.

"Affirmative." He said and brought the longsword's systems online. When the engines were brought online he began to change the course, using the thrusters to change the crafts angle.

He slowly accelerated the craft, but still kept a really low speed. There was a huge amount of debris in the area and he didn't want to hit some, and more importantly he didn't want to make himself a target for potential cloaked Covenant ships.

He kept his eyes on the radar and nav-point, the nav-point steadily decreasing the miles left.

When it was left then a hundred miles left he cut the engines and slowly drifted towards the area.

Keeping most of the systems offline he cut the engines and slowly moved towards the nav-point. This area was in almost complete darkness, but with his enhanced vision he could see the general shapes of the debris. He stopped looking out the window and began to concentrate on the short range radar. The thing marked the debris a bright green, but there wasn't a sign of any yellow dots indicating allies.

"Cortana, do a quick scan of the area, search for any object that could possibly have anything with the UNSC to do." He said in a commanding voice.

"Sure Chief." She said and activated the longswords short range scanners. Letting it sweep over the surrounding area she found only one thing of interest.

"I have a match, what appears to be two badly damaged pelicans, both docked at each other. I can see that one of them is without a cockpit, and the other lacks a wing. No power readings at all." She said and shook her head.

Ranma only nodded and then began to move the longsword closer to take a look.

Cortana was right, both pelicans were badly damaged, the front of one of them was filled with scorch marks, and the windows to the cockpit were gone, giving a clear view of the corpses of the pilots, their faces were badly burned.

The other one was, as Cortana had told him, lacking a wing and a good part of the starboard side.

How they had managed to dock at all was a mystery to Ranma. Using the crafts thrusters he manoeuvred the longsword to dock with the upper airlock of the pelican.

He could hear a loud _clonk _as the ships connected with each other and the magnetic clamps attached to the hull of the pelican.

He picked up his assault rifle and slung it over his shoulder, then he picked up his helmet and made sure to check the air-seals.

He walked down the ramp leading to the underside of the craft and to the left and right of him he could see the empty missile-bays. He pressed a quick combination on a small pad next to a rusty hatch. A green light flashed over the door and the hatch opened. Ranma dropped down the hatch into a small compartment and pressed another pad. The door closed and a red light flashed. He could hear the hiss as the airlock activated and then a green light flashed above another door opposite the first.

The door slid opened with a hiss and the only thing that greeted him was complete and utter darkness.

A small blip and a flashing red light on his modified HUD caught his attention. He could hear as his helmet air seals activated and closed off the outside air and triggered the internal air supply. The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was hazardous.

The small red light from the airlock did little to illuminate the area so he activated his flashlight, and the first thing he saw was the business end of a MA5B Assault Rifle pressed against his visor.

---------------------------------------------

"Your Excelleny, something moved on the scanners." A young elite said and looked alerted on the console.

"What was it?" Nosolee asked as he stepped up next to the elite.

"I can't tell it only showed for a moment, not enough to get any kind of information on what and where it was." He said and looked up on his commanding officer.

"It could be some wreckage from the ring crashing against each other, or a radar echo, your Excellency." An elite next to him said in a humble voice.

"Perhaps... But keep your eyes open." Nosolee said and walked away to check on the repairs on the ship.

----------------------------------

She couldn't tell how long she had been stuck, there wasn't any time in the darkness and cold, just the smell of rotting flesh and moans from the wounded and dieing. But one after another the moans had disappeared, leaving her alone in the darkness. She was just so afraid, so alone, so cold. It took every inch of her willpower not to go insane.

She could hear the as something hit the hull of their derelict escape craft. Some time later, she couldn't tell if it was hours or just a few seconds, the hatch opened.

In the red light coming from the door she could see the silhouette of a tall armoured figure. Her focus was blurry and her movement sluggish but she managed to raise her rifle and point at the figure. The thing activated it's flashlight and the darkened space was flooded with light. The thing stopped as it came face to face with her assault rifle.

Her hands were visibly shaking, more from the cold and shock then from fear, her mind was simply too tired to be afraid.

Her mind didn't even have the time to register as the figure moved and snatched the weapon from out of her hands. She looked down shocked on her hands unbelievingly and pushed herself backwards, trying desperately to get away from the monster.

She couldn't help herself and cried, hoping against hope that her death would be quick.

She could feel darkness overwhelm her and she fell forwards, right into the arms of the armoured monster. He caught her with more softness then she expected from one who was wearing metal armour.

The last thing she saw was a bright golden eye looking down on her.

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Ranma looked down on the woman in his arms and then let his flashlight sweep over the rest of the interior. Marines were lying on the floor and sitting against the walls, he couldn't tell if they were alive or dead. The empty cans of bio-foam and bloody bandages littering the floor showed that a good deal of them were injured and needed medical attention.

Being reminded of the low amount of oxygen in the air he slammed his fist into the airlock pad. With two loud _hisses _both hatches opened, flooding the pelican with light and air.

He quickly made it back to the longswords cockpit, putting the unconscious woman down on the pilot-seat. He walked over to a locker that he knew contained first aid gear and ammunition. When the console didn't accept his ID he didn't give Cortana the time to hack the lock, he simply ripped the three inch solid titanium door of its hinges. He didn't have time to waste, every second was important now.

He pulled out three cases of first aid boxes and laid them on the floor and then picked up a grey military blanket and covered the unconscious woman with it.He could see that her arm was wounded but it wasn't life-threatening so he decided to wait with it until he had checked up on the rest of the marines. He picked up an additional kit with bio-foam, and placed the alien blade still hanging from his belt into the locker.

He grabbed the first aid boxes lying on the floor and a couple of more blankets and then hurried back to the pelican.

When he entered the pelican he pulled out a group of plastic sticks and broke them, they glowed green and illuminated the interior of the ship.

He removed his gauntlets and helmet to be able to work better. As the helmet fell to the floor he could feel the nauseating sweet stench of rotting flesh and the coppery smell of blood. The inside of the ship was cold, below zero at least. He could imagine the terror of being stuck inside this ship for weeks, feeling as the oxygen tanks began to empty, the feeling of dread as the power finally stopped working....

He shook his head and shifted his attention to the first marine. He could see that the wounds were serious but not life threatening so he began to threat them, filling them with bio-foam and putting on a clean bandage.

When he was sure that he would be able to move him without injuring him he wrapped him up in a blanket and carried him up to the longswords right missile bay. It wasn't perhaps the most comfortable, but it wasn't freezing and there wasn't the smell of dead.

Going back to the pelican he began the long work of going through the wounded. The ones who didn't have any critical injuries he moved up to the left missile bay for treatment later, there were does that needed the supplies and the time more. The dead he simply piled in one corner of the ship, taking their dog-tags.

He began to treat the marines with an expertise that any doctor would have envied. He had a lot of first hand experience with wounds, both from inflicting _and_ receiving them so he could treat almost anything.

Small shrapnel wounds, nothing serious.

Dead.

Broken ribs, broken upper arm, nothing serious.

Dead.

Dead.

Third degree burns on arms, critical but not life threatening.

Unconscious, lack of oxygen.

Dead.

Internal bleeding, dieing.

He gave the young woman a painkiller and then continued on. He couldn't waste time with those who were beyond his help.

Dead....

He put the last one from the first pelican down, a young man, navy form the looks of his uniform.

He then walked back to the pelican and moved through it to stand at the second opened hatch.

Pulling out another pair of chemical flares he broke them and threw them down the hole.

He made sure there wasn't anyone lying down there and then jumped down.

The 700 kilo Spartan hit the floor with a loud bang of metal against metal. He heard a loud groan and walked over to the first person. All the others had been KO because of the lack of oxygen, but those without any major wounds would probably be recovering now.

"Fuck, the corps isn't paying me enough for this shit." The man said and groaned again.

Ranma walked over and kneeled besides him. The man was wearing standard UNSC-marines combat armour and helmet. The man was looking down on the floor and shacking his head as if to get rid of some dizziness.

Ranma reached down and reached down to help him up. The man nodded and took the outstretched hand.

Ranma pulled the man to his feet like he wasn't weighing anything, and then he took a closer look.

The shock only lasted a second, Ranma grabbed the collar of the man's uniform and slammed him into wall, one hand holding him to the wall and the other keeping a good grip around the mans throat.

"You are dead. I saw you die on Jenkins mission record. The Flood got you." Ranma said and increased the pressure on the man's throat, but still enough to let him talk.

The black man shook his head to clear it from the pain of being thrown into a wall by a Spartan.

"Hell, Chief, it will take more then some alien horror-show freaks to take out Sergeant Avery J Johnson." He said a little irritated.

Ranma's face didn't lose any of its coldness.

"Don't worry, I am not one of them. This is 100 grade-A UNSC-marine." He said and patted his chest.

"Explain. Now." Ranma said in a commanding voice.

"The Flood got as alright, those small murderous bastards ambushed us. They got Jenkins, Mendoza and Williams. So Keyes, I and Besenti did the only thing possible, we ran like hell and closed the door behind us, but not before leaving a couple of M9 HE-DP presents for them. We lost Besenti halfway through the complex, those bastards were everywhere. Me and the cap'n got stuck in a room filled with those things, one of them had a rocket launcher and made almost the entire ceiling cave in. That was the last I saw of the cap'n. After I dug myself out of the rubble I double timed it back to the surface and hooked up with a few survivors. We used a Covenant radio to call in an evac and then we were off to Alpha base.

When we arrived most of the men were either dead or wounded and we had gotten the order to pick, pack and get our asses off the ring. That's how we ended up in this situation, we ran into a couple of banshees when we took off. Hell, until you showed up I thought we were dead for sure." He said with a shrug.

"Give me your mission record." Ranma said and motioned at the helmet.

The sergeant just shrugged and handed it over to the Spartan. The Spartan placed it in a pocket on his belt and let go off the sergeant. He would have time to check it later, right now he had wounded to care about.

"I placed the wounded back in the longsword's missile bays. Go and see if you can help them." He ordered the sergeant who nodded in reply.

------------------------------------------------------------------

He walked over to the last marine, a young woman, at most twenty five. Her chest was covered in dark-red bandages, her face an unnatural pale colour. Ranma carefully removed the bandage and could see scorched skin, small cracks showing the red flesh beneath.

Taking the pulse on the woman he confirmed what he already knew, she was dead.

"Just a kid..." He said and shook his head sadly, he hated it to see someone so young die.

When the war had begun some twenty years ago the average age of the UNSC-soldiers had been somewhere between thirty-thirty-five, but as the war progressed and the Covenant glassed more and more worlds and killed more and more people the experienced people died.

Now the age was somewhere in between twenty-twenty-five, if you were older you were a veteran. Even though it was a dangerous job it there was always people that signed up, people that had lost their families when a world was glassed, people who didn't know were to go after seeing their entire life destroyed by the merciless Covenant onslaught.

He closed the lifeless eyes of the woman with his hand and removed her dog-tag.

He silently wondered how many billions had died in the war... and how many would die.

Chronologically he was young, barely in the beginning of adulthood, but he'd had seen more then his fair share of war. And war always made one grow old fast.

Standing up he quickly searched for any useful gear but came up with nothing, the weapons locker was empty, the med-kits were all used and all emergency food was already eaten.

He climbed the small ladder up to the other pelican and activated the air-lock. The air lock closed and the air in both pelicans was sucked out, went through the filters to separate oxygen from carbon oxide and then went to the longsword's life support systems.

They were 44 people aboard the longsword, and every bit of air would be needed. Ranma had saved them from dieing from cold and lack of oxygen, but he was afraid he had only slowed down the inevitable. They still lacked any form of slip-space drive and without long range transmitters they wouldn't be able to call for a ride home.

-------------------------------------------------

"Your Excellency, the repair parties have been able to bring the main core online, but the plasma conducts are still not functional." A golden armoured elite said from his position.

Nosolee nodded at the new crew-member. He had been the ship-master on the destroyed Unending Peace. Most would have executed the ship-master from a downed craft because of their failure, but Nosolee needed every man possible and he knew the warrior was good.

The Unending Peace had left the ring atmosphere over half a minute later then the New Sight, due to the fact that the engineers weren't fast enough to bring the engines online, but the ship-master still had managed to bring them out in one piece more or less.

The warrior had been grateful for the mercy and had thanked the entire bride crew personally, which was strange. He had been cleared from the accusation and usually he would then proceed to consider all the lower ranking officers as trash, but he didn't.

Nosolee had the impression that it would be a good idea to have crew that trusted his judgement and was truthful to him, then the usual who feared execution for bringing bad news, failure was always punished with death.

And right now he needed a crew that stuck together, so he had given everyone on the downed crafts mercy.

The three remaining crafts were docked at each other to better repair their vessels, the engineers going through one ship at a time.

"Your Excellency, the repairs on the Divine Prayer's engines is almost completed, but all shield and weapon systems are still offline.

-------------------------------------------------

She groaned as she regained consciousness, pain assaulting her nerves on her arm. She tried to open her eyes but was only met with a blurry haze, only seeing the different colour of her surrounding, which were different shades of grey.

She closed and opened them again, this time the she could make out different shapes, but nothing that lifted the veil of confusion lying over her mind.

She closed her eyes again and tried to remember where she was, but came up with nothing.

Then she could hear something. It was the sound of metal against metal, and soon she realized it was footsteps.

She could hear as the heavily armoured boots moved towards her location with a steady purposeful pace. The _clank, clank _drawing closer by the second. She lay absolutely still trying not to make a single sound, she didn't want the thing to notice her.

The boots moved towards her and she could hear that it stopped a metre or to her left.

"She is awake, I think the painkillers have finally begun to wear off." A female voice said.

"How are you doing Major?" A deep baritone voice said, it reminded her somewhat of thunder, but still had smoothness to it. The voice didn't betray any emotion, but had a distinct coldness and sharpness to it that made a shiver go up her spine from fear.

She opened her eyes and looked around. She was lying curled up in a seat with a blanket around her body, in what appeared to be the cockpit of a longsword. Out the window the only thing seen was vast amount of debris, and a single red gas giant.

Sitting in the seat next to her was a green armoured giant, the reflective golden visor making it impossible to see the man's face. He stood up from the seat and began to move towards her, she began to slowly edge away from the armoured behemoth, the sedative still clouding her mind somewhat.

The Spartan seeing her moment stopped and moved his hand towards his head. With two soft _clicks_ and a following _hiss_ he pulled off his helmet and placed it on the seat. It wasn't the first time that UNSC personnel that had suffered trauma or was under the influence of painkillers mistook him for Covenant. The green armour and over seven feet of height made him look inhuman.

She stopped moving and looked on the face of the man in front of her, he was definitely no Covenant. His hair was cut short, barely half a centimetre, and was raven black. His facial features were rock hard and clearly defined and only showed bitterness and determination.

He looked young, perhaps twenty at most, but his eyes told a different story, they held experience beyond his years, showing complete determination and death and something more.... a deep pain. His deep blue eyes, which held so much bitterness, were as chunks of ice, having no warmth in them.

He would have been considered handsome if it wasn't for the fact that he looked like he had all the burdens of this world and the next on his shoulders.

After years spent in the Mjolnir combat suit his skin had become completely white because of the lack of sunlight. The dark tan he'd had gained during his youth, training to become a Spartan, had completely disappeared.

As she locked eyes with the Spartan she couldn't help but feel a shiver go up her spine, this wasn't a person you could hope to mess with and think you could remain alive. But there was more to the shiver then fear, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of attraction for him, but that feeling of attraction was drowned in the sea of watchfulness.

"Are you okay Major Silvia?" He asked and checked her bandaged arm.

As he said that her memories came crashing back, Halo, the Flood, her name and rank, the escape from Halo, the eternity in the cold dark hell.

"What happened?" She asked the Spartan, her head still buzzing uncomfortable.

"You fell unconscious due to lack of oxygen, as did most of the remaining survivors." He said while checking her arm. It had what remained of a nasty burn, but it was almost completely healed. He used some disinfection spray on the wound and then rewrapped the bandage.

He couldn't afford to use medical supplies in vain, not when there was a severe lack of them. The only reason Silvia had gotten one in the first place was because she was a commanding officer, and she was needed to keep order and moral high.

"Where are the rest of my men?" She asked and tried to sit up, but failed miserably.

"The remaining survivors are located in the missile bays due to lack of space." He said and turned towards the console.

"Cortana, anything new?" He asked the AI.

"No, Sir. Everything is as calm as could be." She said simply.

The Spartan shook his head. The AI's face on the screen turned towards Silvia.

"Ma'am, I have some good news and some bad new." Cortana said over the speakers.

"The good ones first." She said and rubber her temple with her uninjured hand.

"There is not a single sign of any Covenant forces out there." Cortana said.

"And the bad ones?" Silvia asked.

"The same goes for any UNSC-forces." Cortana said and sighed.

"We have air for about five days, then we are in the same position that you were in earlier." The Spartan said and looked out the window, he didn't seem scared, just stated a fact.

Silvia sighed, she didn't want to go through the same things once again, it was worse then facing the Covenant.

She tried to stand up again, but yet again she failed. The Spartan seeing the Major's struggle helped her to her feet. Unless you count the burns on her arm she was uninjured, perhaps a little tired but all in all good to go.

The Spartan made sure the Major didn't collapse, the sedatives still in her body would make her a little groggy.

Seeing that she could stand up without wobbling, he let her stand on her own. She walked out of the cockpit and headed down the ramp. Ranma just shook his head, he had seen the first signs of combat fatigue on the Major's face, he had seen it too many times during his military career not to notice. He also knew that she needed to be with her men to let her get a grip on her nerves, he wouldn't be of any use to console the woman.

With a last look on the back of the Major he turned back to matter at hand, he needed to find a way out of this situation. While the major was a higher ranking officer then him he knew that it was up to him to get them out of this mess.

All the Covenant ships had been destroyed on Halo, and there wasn't any hope to find any UNSC-ships. But he had the feeling he was forgetting something.

-----------------------------------------

Major Alex Silvia made her way from the cockpit and down the small ramp to the missile bay. The two empty missile bays were filled with wounded, but it was only a small part of the ninety-three people that had managed to get off Halo. She sadly shook her head at the loss of so many men.

To the right she could see a group of four marines and a navy ensign move around the wounded to see if they could help somehow. She looked straight ahead and by the airlock she could see five black body bags. The black plastic was reflecting the light, giving them a surreal lock. She let her head fall, and a single tear made its way down her cheek.

The bags were containing people that had given their life to protect others, and this was the gratitude given, their final rest would be a black plastic bag.

She didn't know who was in them, but right now it didn't matter, she was at the end of her nerves.

She felt so hopeless, in the end she hadn't been able to do anything to save the soldiers under her command.

Silvia was about to return to the cockpit when the voices of some of the marines caught her attention.

"So, how are we getting out of this one? We are almost out of food and water. We are as good as dead...." She heard a voice complain.

"Will you just shut it Jeremiah? I have had it with your constant bitching." A female voice said.

Jeremiah didn't even seem to notice, he just continued to ramble.

"I mean, we were as good as dead, and now we have to go through the entire thing again. Couldn't he have just let us die?" Jeremiah said.

"Just shut the fuck up!" The woman said pissed.

"Make me." Jeremiah said tauntingly.

Major Alex Silvia frowned and moved back towards the missile bay. She couldn't let things get out of control.

She entered and took in the situation, a marine without his helmet was standing in the middle of the room, and in front of him was a woman in navy blue. The tension in the air was so thick you probably could have cut it with a knife.

Before she could intervene Sergeant Johnson stepped up and jabbed a finger into the chest of the marine.

"What the hell is wrong with you? We have a goddamned Spartan pulling our asses out of the fire, and you are trying to fight him. This guy has more fucking experience then an entire division of ODST put together! Do you want to fucking die out here? Because if you do I can kick your sorry ass out of the airlock right now. If you don't then shut up, follow orders, and we might just get home in one piece." Johnson angrily yelled into the face of the marine.

Johnson always fixed so that it was order among the marines, even if he personally had to kick some ass.

It had been common knowledge on the Pillar of Autumn that if you pissed off Sergeant Johnson he would shove his boot so high up your ass that you would taste shoe-polish the rest of your life.

So she decided to interfere before Johnson actually kicked the man out, with him you could never be sure if he was joking or not.

"That's enough, Sergeant. Stand down." She barked out.

"Yes Ma'am." The sergeant said and nodded in affirmative. But he still had an angry look on his face.

Major Silvia turned towards the marine, a private.

"Private, I know you have frazzled nerves after all the events transpired, we all have, but if I hear you talk like that one more time, I will be the one to kick you out of this boat, and not the Sergeant here. Understood?"

The marine clenched his jaw and nodded.

"Do you understand?" Silvia asked again, this time with more determination.

"Yes Ma'am, I understand." He finally said.

"Good, now carry out, soldier." She said and turned and left the room.

As she left the room she leaned her head wall and groaned. She just hoped that there weren't many like Jeremiah. She could feel the cold metal of the wall against the forehead, a massive headache was starting to build up.

She just sighed and rubbed her temples, trying to come up with something. Even though she hated to admit it the private was right, there was no chance in hell that they would find a way out of here. She began to despair, she didn't want to die, not like this in any case.

A hand was placed on her shoulder and she quickly turned around.

Johnson was standing in front of her, and he had a tired smile.

"Thanks Major, I have had problems with Jeremiah for the past three days." Johnson said.

He was looking tired, he didn't have his usual carefree badass attitude, but he was still smiling a little.

"So, do you think we will make it out of here?" She asked the man.

The black mans smile faded, he closed his eyes, and then he sighed deeply.

"To be honest......" He said and trailed off.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I think we have a snowballs chance in hell." He said, eyes still closed.

"That bad, huh?" She said and shook her head.

"But on the other hand......."

"Yes?" She asked a little hopeful.

"We survived Halo, and I can't really say that the odds there were any better. I would just think it strange that our luck, or whatever you want to call it, would leave us now." He said and opened his eyes.

--------------------------------------------------------

The longsword was slowly moving away from the debris field, letting their momentum carry them on.

Ranma was sitting in the pilot seat and going through all the events leading up to Halo, the fall of Reach, the death of all the Spartans and the Pillar of Autumns last ditch effort to play decoy so the rest of the fleet could escape, in the end the Covenant fleet had been destroyed, but to a high price.

He knew that Reach had been one of the last colonies before Earth.

He just hoped that there was some way to get back in time.

He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, replaying the events in his head. The Autumns battle over the gas giant and finally as it went down on the ring-world....

He opened his eyes as he remembered something.

"Cortana..." He said and trailed off.

"Yes, sir?" Cortana said over the speakers.

"Couldn't we hitch a ride with the Covenant ships?" He said and turned towards the AI's face on the screen.

"I think you will have to fix those implants of yours. All Covenant ships were destroyed as Halo detonated." She said and shook her head.

"Only the ones in the atmosphere." He said simply.

"Yes, only the ones in the atmosphere. Unfortunately that was _all _Covenant ships, the Covenant leadership gave orders to all ships to hold a stationary orbit inside the ring atmosphere to avoid any Flood outbreak." She said as if talking to a small child.

Had it been possible for the Spartan to look smug he would have being doing just that.

"Yes, _all_ ships were ordered to take up position, but that doesn't mean that all were able to do that." He said and began to type into the longswords flight records.

"What are you rambling about now?" She said and sighed.

"Do you remember when we first arrived in system?" He said and continued to type away on the computer.

"Yes, the Autumn was damaged when we arrived here, but we were still able to land on the ring. What are you going at?" She said and tapped her foot impatiently.

"We took out four Covenant ships, remember? They wouldn't have been able to follow the commands, not with the damage they sustained from you." He said and motioned towards the screen.

A small system map was on the display, it was six weeks out of date, with Halo still holding orbit around the gas-giant. A green arrow indicating the Autumn entered the system, and began to move towards Halo. It encountered numerous red arrows, indicating hostiles and yellow lines began to go back and forth between the Autumn and the Covenant ships.

As the green arrow disappeared at the ring there were four red dots with a cross over each indicating the destroyed vessels.

Cortana stopped for about three seconds to take in what the Spartan had said.

"Wait.... Processing new data. You are right, the four ships never made it to Halo." She said.

"So, do you think we can hijack a ship and return home?" He asked and looked out the window.

"It is our best plan yet. We will have to fly to the other side of the gas-giant first, because the crafts are in the planets shadow, and then we can see where we stand after that." She said.

Ranma nodded and brought the longswords engine online. Two flames erupted from the engines and shot the craft forward.

He could see the glistening remains of halo float in the distant, looking like nothing more then drops of water. The craft began to close the distance between itself and the sphere.

"ETA 18 hours, 32 minutes, 16 seconds" Cortana's voice said over the speakers.

"Roger that." Ranma said simply.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nosolee walked into the almost empty bridge, the only one except him there was the new pilot, Hakue.

About half the lights were turned off, to conserve the meagre amount of energy the reactors managed to create. Most of the crew was down in the lower compartments to fix the main plasma conducts, only Hakue left checking the status on the rest of the ship.

He walked up the ramp leading to the elevated platform, all the displays were shut off, the only one online was casting an eerie purple light over the bridge, making the shadows come alive. They were dancing across the walls and ceiling of the bridge.

Nosolee had to repress a shudder, the shadows were reminding him of the Flood. He stepped up next to the golden armoured elite, the marks of master pilot stencilled deep within the golden metal.

"Your Excellency, I everything is going as it should, no incidents except a small rise in reactor temperature, nothing serious." Hakue said and motioned towards the screen.

Nosolee nodded absentmindedly and looked on the screen without really paying attention.

Hakue shifted a little nervously while he looked at his commanding officer. Nosolee noticed this and looked on the warrior with an inquiring look.

"Your Excellency, may I ask a question?" Hakue said and looked nervous.

"You have my permission, warrior." He said simply.

"Why did you spare my life? I failed to command my vessel to safety, I failed the gods..." He said and trailed off.

Nosolee closed his eyes and placed his hand on the hilt of his plasma blade.

"Your Excellency, all others would have executed me for my failure, but you spared me... It makes no sense." He said and looked at his superior.

"In this place I have seen many things that don't make any sense, but as time will pass I am sure we will comprehend more of the transpired events, and find out if our choices were correct." He said to himself, completely forgetting the presence of the other elite.

The purple glow from the screen illuminated the face of the elite, he looked calm and serene.

"And I pray to the gods that our choices were correct, and if they weren't..... May the gods have mercy upon our souls." He said and sighed sadly.

"Your Excellency?" The elite asked, confusion evident in his voice.

I don't seem to make any sense, am I? I should perhaps say something more understandable." He said and opened his eyes and turned towards Hakue.

"The reason I didn't kill you.... You should always treat others like you self want to be treated." He said and looked on the screen.

"I have never heard those words before, but nevertheless they speak the truth and are filled with wisdom." Hakue said and considered the words carefully, they seemed filled with the promise of peace and happiness, and yet..... They also filled him with an indescribable feeling of guilt and dread of what was to come. Somehow those simple words seemed to be final, carrying a sentence, it was by these words they would be judged.

"I would be surprised if you had." Nosolee said simply and turned back to the screen.

He wouldn't tell Hakue that these were words coming from the mouths of humans.

Both Hakue and Nosolee turned back to the screen, both still in deep thought. The darkness around them was doing nothing to ease the unexplainable feeling of guilt that had fallen on both warriors.

A screen behind them beeped to gain there attention and they turned around. The screen beeped again and both walked over to it.

"Your Excellency, a human craft just left the shadow of the planet. Commencing full scan." Hakue said and began to type on the computer.

"Ship identified as a middle range light bomber, longsword class, 39 human life forms onboard. Orders?" Hakue asked.

Nosolee looked as the human longsword made its way around the planet. It didn't seem to have noticed them yet.

"Let it be, all our weapons, shields and engines are offline, there is nothing we can do." He heard himself say, but he knew that he could send out a Seraph fighter and deal with the human ship. He didn't, he just let it fly away.

"Your Excellency?" Hakue said confused.

"It is just one ship, it is not worth our time, we have more important matters to attend to." He said simply and looked down on the screen. The longsword would enter the planets shadow in less then a minute.

"Yes, your Excellency." Hakue said and didn't press the matter anymore. Hakue walked back to the other screen and fell into silence.

"Perhaps another time human, for another battle." Nosolee whispered so that only he could hear it.

Somehow he had the feeling he just condemned _and_ saved his race in one action.

-------------------------------------------

"Major, I need to speak with you." Ranma said and looked around the room. Everyone's eyes were on him as he spoke.

"What is it about?"

"It is a solution to our current situation." He said and looked on the various marines, ODST and navy personnel littering the room.

"I think everyone should hear this, it concerns us all." She said and swept her hand indicating the entire room.

"I have found a ride home, there is only one problem" He said and looked on the marines.

"And that would be?" Silvia asked.

"If we want that particular piece of hardware we will need to take it from the Covenant first." He said and looked on the people's reaction. Some looked shocked, others looked afraid, and yet others looked relieved.

"Explain what this undertaking is all about." Silvia asked with a curious expression.

"We have located a Covenant frigate. If we capture the bridge Cortana can hack into the systems and take command over the vessel. The ship is damaged so if we are lucky their weapon systems will be offline."

"And if we aren't lucky?" Silvia asked.

"Then we died trying." Ranma answered simply.

Silvia looked down on the floor for a moment.

"It is all up to you Major, you are the highest ranking officer. If you tell me not to I will try to find another way out of this." He said and looked on the Major.

"What do you think of this plan, personally I mean? Can we make it?" She asked and looked at the Spartan, but could only see her reflection in the yellow visor.

"I think its going to be our only way out of this, our chances of survival is better then if we stay here. If we can make it? I wouldn't have suggested it if it wasn't possible." He said simply.

"What do you think of this Sergeant?" Silvia asked Johnson, who was standing to the side of her.

"A single longsword against a Covenant frigate? We are less then forty soldiers left, and more then half of them is severely wounded, and we should take on an entire Covenant crew? Without any intel on enemy strength, no maps, no backup, no evac. Everything that could possibly be to our disadvantage is it....." He said and trailed off.

"Sure, I'm in. This is the kind of odds that Marines life for to fight against." Johnson then added.

Major Alex Silvia then smiled an evil smile.

"Well then, it is settled. Ladies and gentlemen, buckle up, because we are going in the Marine way, with guns blazing."

"Ma'am, what about us?" The woman that had argued with Jeremiah said and motioned towards the group of Navy personnel.

"Can you handle a weapon?" Silvia asked.

"We all went through standard weapon training." She answered.

"Good, then grab some gear and form up with the rest of the eggheads." She said and motioned to the group of marines and ODST.

She saluted them and then followed the Chief out the hatch.

Johnson looked at the Major as she left and then turned to the various Marines lying and sitting on the floor.

"You heard the lady, move your lazy asses! You have slept enough already, because sleep you can do when you're dead....... Oh, and that reminds me, that everyone here is under the strict orders not to get killed, so no one and I do mean _no_ one is allowed to die today. You don't get yourself killed, you hear that? Because if you do, I will personally fight my way down to hell to beat up your sorry asses. DO YOU GET ME, MARINES?"

"WE GET YOU SIR!" Came the roar form the mixed group of UNSC-marines, ODST and Navy personnel.

The ODST and Marines quickly grabbed their discarded weapons and gear, while the Navy borrowed some gear from the wounded.

Out of the thirty-nine people onboard the longsword, eighteen was so injured that they couldn't move themselves, and seven could move but had wounds that would only slow them down in combat. The rest, three ODST, four Navy and six marines were preparing for something that no sane, and most of the insane, would even consider, an assault on a Covenant frigate with a single longsword.

-----------------------------------------------------

Ranma accelerated the craft and began a slingshot manoeuvre around the gas-giant. He could feel the gravity press him down in the seat. He shifted the controls slightly and placed the craft in a perfect orbit around the gas-giant. He looked at the screen and then pushed the controls forward. The craft jumped out of its trajectory and headed straight for the last known position of the downed Covenant craft.

"Scanning........" The calm voice of Cortana came over the speakers.

Ranma was keeping his eyes on the radar and scanners, at this distance the frigate would be nothing more then a small piece of dust. The screen beeped once and showed a big green blob, and two small ones.

"A damaged D-Class Covenant frigate located, together with two E-Class Covenant corvettes, but the corvettes are nothing more the floating debris, I have no trace of the fourth ship." Cortana said over the speakers.

"Affirmative, I have an approach vector for the frigate." He said to the AI and used the small manoeuvre thrusters to change their course to intercept the frigate.

He kept his eyes glued to the screen to see if the Covenant reacted to their approach. He knew that if they did they wouldn't have a chance, the Covenants tracking systems were just to good.

The space between the Covenant ship and the longsword was steadily decreasing, and no sign of any incoming fire.

He could see that Major Silvia was sweating bullets, and was nervously taping her fingers on the armrest of the co-pilots seat.

As they flew closer to the ship he could see that there were no lights at all, it was running dark. As they slowly flew along the side of the ship he could see that the hull was intact, there was not a single trace of damage on the purple armour. As they moved towards the middle of the ship a gapping circular hole appeared in the structure. The edges were burnt and bent and as the lights from the longsword illuminated the gap Ranma could see that it went straight through the ship. Floating debris and a few corpses were seen, but not a single sign of life.

"Cortana, find me an access-point." Ranma ordered while keeping his eyes on the screen.

The ship had probably been hit with a MAC-round, because that was the only weapon that the UNSC had that could punch through an entire Covenant ship.

"There is a small airlock that would be adaptable with the longsword's two-hundred metres ahead." She said and a small Nav-point appeared on the screen.

Ranma nodded and adjusted the thrusters accordingly to get a better approach vector. The dull grey longsword connected with the bright purple teardrop shaped frigate. The screen flashed green to confirm the docking. He grabbed the MA5B assault rifle lying on the floor next to the seat and walked over to the locker on the far side missing a hatch. The interior was filled with ammunition, mostly just the standard 7,62 mm rounds for the MA5B.

He stopped as he spotted the sword lying in the compartment. For a second he thought if he should take it with him, but then quickly discarded the idea, it would take unnecessary space

---------------------------------------------------------------

Johnson raised his MA5B Assault Rifle as the airlock seals hissed. The doors remained shut and the light over the hatch glowed red. Behind him the small rag-tag group of soldiers were waiting nervously. A few had closed their eyes and were whispering prayers, others were just fidgeting, and one was snapping his weapon safety on and off.

"Keep away from the door." A voice ordered from just behind him.

Johnson turned around and came face to face with the Spartan. Johnson looked strangely at the armoured behemoth, he was over seven feet and clad in metal combat armour, but he had still been able to sneak upon him without making a sound.

The Spartan seemed to look upon the gathered faces and then motioned towards a group of marines in the back. They were wounded but still able to fight.

"You keep the Covenants off this ship, don't let them get to the wounded." He said in a deep voice.

He then took a grenade from his belt and motioned to a marine to do the same. The marines took on each side of the door and then waited.

Ranma pressed the pad and the door opened with a _hiss_. Two bolts of green plasma flew through the door and hit the fair wall, at the same time Ranma and the marine flung the explosives around the edge through the door.

"Fire in the hole!" The marine yelled, and half a second later a loud _wham _and the screams of a couple of elites announced the arrival of the UNSC onboard the Covenant frigate.

Ranma leaned around the door to make himself as small target as possible and fired off a three round burst into the body of a grunt. To the right of him a marine was doing the same, leaning around the corner and firing from behind cover.

He pulled the pins on another grenade and threw it down the corridor. Another _wham_ and the bolts of plasma stopped.

"Keep too the walls and cover each other." Ranma said and leaned around the corner to make sure there weren't any enemies. Letting the rifle sweep over the dark passageway, he walked forwards in a half crouch. The marines were doing the same, keeping their backs against the wall.

Most of the lights were down, the shadows were perfect to conceal the small group of marines.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Johnson was impressed with how the Spartan dealt with the Covenant, he seemed to simply walk through the destruction of the small battle and with a precision that was frightening cut down the Covenant with his MA5B.

Johnson fired his rifle into the face of a Covenant grunt. The mask covering the grunt's face hissed violently and sprayed out white gas. The grunt clawed at his face and then went silent.

Johnson turned around and looked at the rest of marines. They had taken cover behind some cargo crates and were holding their own against the charging Covenant.

An elite fired at a marine taking cover behind a crate. The marine leaned out from his cover and fired ten rounds before returning behind the crate. She ejected the clip in her rifle and and quickly slammed a new one in. She leaned back around the crate and fired off the rifle again.

A plasma bolt screeched forward and hit the marine in her leg, burning away the skin and flesh. Without the leverage of her right foot she fell to the side, out from behind the cover of the crate, her rifle clattering to the floor some feet to her side. She screamed out in pain and clutched the burned limb, rolling around on the floor in anguish. The elite aimed again and fired off s single plasma bolt. The marine's screams went quiet.

Johnson turned towards the Chief, who was firing point blank into the head of an elite. The slug hit the shields of the elite and his head jerked backwards because of the impact. The Spartan fired off another five rounds before his rifle went dry and then he used the butt of the rifle as a club and slammed it into the head of the elite. The shields finally had enough and then disappeared, another hit with the rifle into the head of the elite was enough to snap his neck.

The Spartan hit the ejector on the clip and quickly inserted a new one. Johnson was about to turn back to the marines when a small blur moved across his vision.

"WATCH OUT!" He yelled.

-----------------------------------------------

He had barely time enough to hear the warning before his instincts kicked in. Ranma threw himself to the floor on his stomach, a loud humming sound from precisely over his head told him that the cloaked elite with a plasma sword had missed him with only a couple of inches to spare.

Ranma turned around so that he was lying on his back and could face the elite. The form was blurry, but the burning blue plasma sword that seemed to hover in front of him told him that it really was an enemy. Slamming the rifle into the stomach of the elite he fired at point blank.

The air shimmered as the circuits on the cloaking field malfunctioned, then the form of the elite appeared standing over him.

Even though the elite had taken numerous hits to the stomach, the armour had stopped the brunt of them. He swung the blade and half of the MA5B assault rifle fell to the floor cut in half. The alien opened his mandibles and screamed in rage. He then attempted to stab the human in his head but the Spartan dodged, still lying on the floor.

Ranma flipped, so that he was standing on his hands, and then locked the elites head between his legs. He spun to the side, dragging the elite to the floor with him, and with a final twist snapped the alien's neck.

In less then a second he was back on his feet, with a policed Covenant plasma rifle in his right hand, and a Covenant plasma pistol in his left.

He hosed the few remaining Covenant grunts with burning plasma, blue, green and red bolts flying everywhere. Two well timed grenades from a marine dealt with the last of the Covenant who had taken cover behind a couple of crates.

He dropped the pistol and took the MA5B rifle from the corpse of the unfortunate marine. The enemy in the small bay had been defeated.

They didn't have time to rest however, the resistance to the bridge was becoming increasingly harder, and if they didn't move now they would never make it.

"Cover each others six." Johnson said as they moved towards the bridge.

-----------------------------------------------------

The door's light flashed and then opened. He turned around and raised his plasma rifle to make sure none of the humans entered. Nothing came out of the darkness in the hallway.

They waited and then lowered their weapons. He continued to walk back and forth on the bridge on his guard routine, casting disgusted looks on the sleeping grunts. The bridge was dark, only a few lights were functioning and the mood was eerie. All the combat teams sent to stop the humans hadn't reported back, and the moral was dropping.

A couple of small _clink, clink's _behind himbrought the warrior out of his thoughts. He turned around with his weapon raised but could see nothing. He walked forwards, rifle still raised, but could still not find the thing that had made the noise.

His foot hit something on the floor and he leaned down and picked it up. He couldn't see what it was, it was to dark. He steeped back into the light and then looked back to his hand.

It was a.....

-----------------------------------------

_Wham, wham, wham_ was the sound coming from inside the room. The grenades had detonated, and then Ranma leaned his head from behind the door to take in the situation.

He quickly pulled back and looked back at the small group of marines.

Ranma raised three fingers, pulled the pin of an imaginary grenade and then motioned to the door.

Three marines nodded and pulled out their last couple of grenades and threw it through the door. Another three _whams _followed shortly thereafter.

The Covenant was now firing in all directions, but came nowhere near the door and the marines. They hadn't noticed them yet.

"Three men stay and give covering fire, the rest engage at will. Wait for when they must cycle their weapons. I will draw their fire" Ranma said and got the thumbs up in reply.

He silently and quickly slipped through the door unnoticed and looked around. He laid down on his stomach and crawled over to a pillar on the other side of the room. He stayed at the walls were the lights didn't reach and took cover behind the pillar. He quickly peeked around and could see a grunts standing with his back towards him and firing on the far wall.

Ranma silently placed the plasma rifle he had stolen earlier and reached out and grabbed the neck of the grunt and pulled him backwards into the shadows. A small wet snap was heard as he twisted the alien's neck. He policed the dead alien's grenades and then looked around the room once again.

Most of the aliens had stopped firing, but they didn't seem to notice the absence of the grunt.

Ranma activated two grenades and stuck them to the corpse. He then hurled the dead grunt across the room onto an elite who fell to the floor as the body hit him. The elite screamed in rage and pushed the body off him, not noticing the fact that the grenades of the alien were activated.

The grenades detonated in a storm of blue plasma and incinerated the elite.

All the remaining aliens turned around hastily and fired in the direction of the explosion, but coming nowhere near Ranma or the marines. He then raised the plasma rifle and fired of a small burst into a grunt. The plasma went unnoticed because everyone else was shooting.

He fired again and this time a jackal went down. Unfortunately the alien screamed and fired his rifle to the roof and that alerted the rest to Ranma's presence.

Ranma fired the plasma rifle on full automatic and when the sides opened and began the cooling sequence as not to overheat the weapon he threw it and picked up his MA5B rifle and began to spray metal death on the Covenant, aiming mostly at grunts and jackals which didn't have any shields.

Plasma was splashing around him, draining his shields fast. As the clip went dry he pulled back behind the pillar to reload his rifle and let his shields recharge.

Over the sound of screeching plasma he could hear the steady rattle of MA5B fire.

He pushed his arm around the pillar and fired the MA5B blindly, not meaning to kill but to draw the fire from the rest of the marines.

Once again the _click, click _of his empty rifle was heard. He pulled back behind the pillar, inserted his last clip and then picked up the grunt's plasma pistol.

Holding the trigger on the plasma pistol he over-charged the weapon. He stepped out from behind his cover, one weapon in each hand, and fired the pistol straight at an elite. The alien was flung to the floor at the impact and his shield circuits fried.

Ranma let the pistol go through the automatic cooling mode while firing the MA5B straight into the head of the elite. The alien jerked once and then went still.

He then fired a couple of rounds at some grunts that tried to flank him. The plasma pistol beeped once and he switched to it, firing at some jackals who were taking cover behind their hand held shields. An impact on the shield made the alien wobble for a second, but that was all Ranma needed.

He fired a three round burst with the MA5B that hit the alien in the side and made him fall to the floor screaming. He looked around and could see that the marines were holding their own. They moved from cover to cover, using the shadows and the bad light to full advantage.

He dodged behind a pillar as some grunts fired towards him and returned the gesture with the MA5B. The sixty round clip was down to thirty now.

He heard a roar from behind him and turned around, coming face to face with a golden armoured elite. With a quick flick of his wrist the alien activated his plasma sword, and then attacked.

Ranma brought both weapons up and fired a constant stream of 7,62 mm AP-rounds and plasma fire at the advancing alien.

The elite slashed towards him, but he dodged to the side and then slammed the rifle into the back of the alien, draining the last of his shields.

He fired off the last three rounds of his MA5B into the neck of the alien who slumped to the deck like a rag doll.

As the sound of his weapon stopped it became quiet, no sound of plasma or automatic weapons fire could be heard.

He pressed the ejection button on the side of his rifle and the empty clip fell to the floor with a clatter. He then dropped the depleted plasma pistol.

He turned around and could see that there wasn't a single Covenant left on the bridge, only the rag-tag assortment of marines.

Ranma began to walk towards the elevated platform that held the main control panels of the ship. He stepped over numerous corpses of Covenant soldiers, their blood was covering the entire floor in different colours of blue, purple and orange.

The marines had taken up position at the doors.

He stepped over the last corpse, a blue armoured elite missing an arm and his body badly burned and filled with shrapnel.

He picked out Cortana's chip from his helmet, she had been quiet almost the entire time.

He inserted the chip into one of the undamaged panels and her small holographic form appeared.

"Sealing all doors to the bridge........" She said, and half a second later the doors closed with a _hiss._

"Override of the main security protocols commenced, this won't take long." Cortana said and looked up from her screen.

"The Covenant's security systems are a joke, any second grade AI could hack them if they just got access to the bridges computer."

"Perhaps they didn't suspect that a human assault group could capture one of their ships." Ranma said and gazed out on the gathered marines who were walking around and putting bullets into the heads of the aliens lying on the bridge to make sure that they really were dead.

"Probably....." She said but then something caught her attention

"I gained full access to all systems, I am venting the atmosphere as we speak." Cortana said and looked on the reflective golden visor of the Chief.

Throughout the ship all air-locks opened and blew the atmosphere right into space, sucking the remaining Covenant with them.

Ranma looked on the bloody interior of the bridge, corpses, MA5B shells, blood, and discarded weaponry was littering the floor. But miraculously there weren't any dead Marines.

"Cortana, what's our status?" Ranma asked the AI.

She brought her holographic hand to her temple and closed her eyes.

"Wait..... The main power conduits were damaged but the crew repaired it. The main control nexus on the other hand is still broken. I can access small systems, but the engines, shields, weapon, reactor and FTL systems are beyond my reach. We need to repair the nexus."

"Estimated time?" Ranma asked.

"18-20 hours." She answered.

"Well then, lets go to work."

---------------------------------

"Your Excellency, repair team four just reported that the main reactor is repaired. Power to all main systems will be back shortly." Hakue said and half a second latter the lights on the bridge flickered and then went online.

"Commencing full ship diagnostic....." Hakue said and tapped on the holo-panel.

Nosolee stepped up to the other elite and looked over his shoulder.

"We have sufficient power to make a jump." The elite said to his commanding officer.

"Tell the repair teams to return to their respective vessels, and then begin a jump with all security protocols activated."

"Your Excellency, that would take considerable time....." Hakue said and turned from his screen to the other elite.

"I am fully aware of that, but our ship is damaged and we hold vital information that must be delivered to the High Prophet of Truth, we will not take any risks." Nosolee said.

"I understand your Excellency." Hakue said and bowed.

--------------------------------------

"Three, two, one.... Main control nexus is online, good work gentlemen."

Ranma could see the rest of the gathered crew smile at those words. He himself wore an unemotional expression concealed by his helmet.

The mission had been a success and the casualties minimal. They had counted 3 KIA's, but with an entire Covenant ship in their hands that was a good price. They had had managed to repair the nexus and get the crew remaining in the longsword to the bridge. The few remaining Navy personnel were commanding the bridge, trying their best to keep the damaged alien ship in one piece.

Now the only thing left was to punch the coordinates and go back to Earth for debriefing.

"I am diverting power to the engines." Cortana's voice came over the speakers.

Some of the Navy personnel from the Autumn were running checks on the ship. The panels were displaying information in passable English, thanks to Cortana's translation program. She had managed to gather quite a lot of information from her time in Halo and the Truth and Reconciliation, enough to keep the ghouls in Intelligence and ONI busy for years.

He could feel in his stomach that they were moving, but other then that there was no sign of any activity. Onboard an UNSC-ship there would have been a slight disorientation in the gravity fields when a ship accelerated.

He sat down at the top of the ramp leading to the elevated platform, and leaned his back against one of the pillars. He removed his helmet slowly and placed it on the deck next to him, and took a deep breath of air. He looked out on the main screen who displayed a calm sea of stars.

He smiled, but it wasn't a smile filled with joy, it was a sad smile from a man that seen too much, he always thought that nothing cold affect him, not emotionally at least. But he was wrong, so very wrong. He had nothing to do right know so he just sat and remembered, it was the only thing that he could do. The Fall of Reach, his family's death, Kelly, John, Sam, James, Linda, he went through every one, every name triggering a stab of pain and guilt in his heart.

Then the Pillar of Autumn's successful attempt to led away the Covenant from the rest of the retreating fleet, the bad wakeup onboard the Autumn, Halo..... The Flood. He closed his eyes and sighed sadly, he could probably handle one of those events, but all after another.... He was many things, but in the end he _was_ only human, genetically enhanced but still only human.

He was feeling so hopeless, the sensation growing in his stomach. During the last few weeks he had lost everything and everyone that had ever mattered to him. He shook his head and looked out on the stars again, determined not to think about it anymore, to think of better times. He brushed his hand through his hair, and just looked out on the calm sea.

His mind drifted off to his childhood, the good times he remembered with his family, the smiling faces of the other children... That was how he wanted to remember them. He drifted longer backwards, to his real mother and father.

He didn't really remember his mother, she was just a blurry image before his inner eye, a fleeing sense of warmth and security was the only thing he still remembered. His father was just as blurry as his mother, but when he thought about his father he remembered only pain and suffering.

He wondered how they were doing, if they were still alive, or if their world had been glassed just like so many untold thousand others. He thought he remembered that he came from Earth, but that feeling was very vague and nothing concrete. He just dismissed it as it wasn't important, not anymore at least, and continued on with the thought of his past.

While he could remember nothing of his biological parents he could remember Chief Mendez and Doctor Halsey quite clearly. While Chief Mendez was a soldier and very stern he still cared for the Spartans in his own way, he was the sole father figure the Spartans had.

While his training was though, or more correctly impossible, it was only to give Spartans a better chance of survival.

If Chief Mendez was the father figure of the Spartans, Dr Catherine Halsey was definitely the mother figure. She always treated the Spartans when they got hurt, had consoled them in the beginning when they firstly had arrived to the training facility, and she had generally watched out for the Spartans wellbeing.

He drifted off to his childhood and the beginning of the training when they still didn't know what they were supposed to become. He looked out on the stars again and sadly smiled mentally, he had taken to the different fields of science, and especially physics and aeronautics, like a fish to water and had told Dr Halsey that he wanted to become a captain on a starship and explore space. He had always been fascinated by the stars, and once he found out about space travel he really wanted to see the galaxy.

The old saying "You should be careful what you wish for" fitted in here. He had gotten to see the galaxy, and parts of others, but it was always during some kind of military mission, seeing worlds go up in flames wasn't what he wanted to see. As he grew older and the threat of the Covenant became more profound the dreams of travelling the stars slowly diminished, being replaced with the sole duty to serve and protect mankind.

He shook his head to clear it of all thoughts and leaned backwards and closed his eyes to sleep.

"Ranma?"

"Yes Cortana" Ranma said with his eyes still closed.

"Are you okay? You seem bothered." She asked worriedly.

"No, just thinking about things." He answered simply with the same emotionless voice as ever.

"Like what?" She asked, now interested.

"Like..."Ranma began the sentence but didn't get the chance to finish it.

-----------------------------------------------

"Your Excellency, the Burning Justice just left the shadow of the planet."

Nosolee turned around and walked straight to where Hakue was standing. He looked surprised at the news, the Burning Justice wasn't part of his battle group, and as far he knew they were the only ones who attempted to get away from Halo before its detonation.

As he looked on the screen he could see that the Burning Justice was a small frigate, so it wasn't strange he never heard of the ship before, especially when the force at Halo had consisted of _hundreds_ of ships, a simple frigate would hardly be remembered, not when there were multiple assault carriers and three heavy battle ships in the fleet.

"Ship memory displays that the contact with the Burning Justice's bridge crew was lost during the human vessels initial approach of the ring, it was reported as destroyed after that." Hakue said as he was slowly reading the information from the screen.

"They crew may have repaired it." Nosolee said to the other officer.

"May be, or she wasn't that badly damaged to begin with...." Hakue said and began to scan the other ship.

"Scanners indicate that the ship got hit by a human MAC-round, in the middle near the main control system. Scanners show no other damage." Hakue said as he finished the scan.

"Hail them." Nosolee said simply as he looked on the ship, looking a little bit stressed.

Hakue nodded and moved to another screen.

The return of another ship would usually mean good news, but if they had heard over the comm.-channels that he broke a direct order from a prophet.... He and his crew would be killed at once. He knew that the crew wouldn't say a thing for fear of their lives, but a ship and crew that had nothing to do with the event at all would lose nothing, but gain much if telling the Prophets about their betrayal.

"The ship is not responding your Excellency." Hakue said and tapped some glowing glyphs on the screen.

"Try it again." Nosolee said and clicked his mandibles irritated. He must find out if they knew about it, and hopefully they wouldn't.

"They still aren't responding.... And the ship just changed course, going at full speed out of the system." Hakue said and motioned to the screen next to him.

"Your Excellency, what shall we do?" Hakue asked, he too, like rest of the crew, knew what would happen if that ship reached a Covenant controlled world.

"Tell the other ships to deploy fighters and engage the ship immediately." Nosolee said quickly. He just thought it strange that the ship hadn't hailed them once and tried to engage.... Usually that would be the normal course of action even if the enemy was stronger then you.

The alarms went off on the ship and soon the rest of the bridge crew was on their stations. They immediately recognized the danger they were in and began to power up the very few functional weapon-systems.

The three ships shoot forward after the small frigate, all charging up their weapons. The blue plasma forming spheres of superheated destruction.

"Pin-point laser turrets are targeting the ship now, plasma turrets 1-4 are still damaged." One of the young officers said to the rest of the bridge crew.

"Your Excellency, The Divine Prayer is charging up there single remaining plasma turret, and the Resolved Righteousness are deploying their fighters." One of the senior officers' said to the bridge-crew.

Nosolee's clicked his mandibles as he could see the ships close in on the small frigate.

"Hail them again and tell them that we will open fire if they don't decelerate now." He said and motioned to the elite standing over at the comm.-station.

"They aren't responding...." He said and shook his head frustrated.

"Then all ships fire at will." He said coldly.

He walked over to Hakue's post, he was the piloting the vessel with extreme skill, fully concentrated on his task. The three cruisers were moving fast and circling the smaller ship, it wouldn't take long before they were caught. He let his eyes trail over the different screens, but stopped as something caught his attention.

"Give me a scan on hull sector D4, right now." He said, but still had his eyes glued to the screen.

A second later the main view screen flickered and showed a section of the frigates hull. To it a small dull grey craft was attached, immediately recognised by everyone as a human longsword.

"I think we severely underestimated the humans' stubbornness." Nosolee said to the gathered crew. And it was true, they had battled their forces severely outnumbered and outgunned, and had still remained victorious. They had combated the flood and had in the end had stood triumphant, wounded, scarred, and decimated, but still triumphant.

They all looked up at their commander and nodded before returning to their tasks.

"Weapons charged, target solution finished." The weapon master said, and taped the controls to optimize the ships performance.

"Fire."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Ma'am, I have three Covenant ships on my scanners, a cruiser, two frigates." A young woman wearing the uniform of the Navy.

Cortana turned her attention to the scanners and quickly cursed.

"We are being hailed by the cruiser" She said and turned her attention to the bridge crew.

Ranma quickly put his helmet on and walked up to the command, but he knew that he wouldn't be of any use in this battle. Spartans were made for ground combat, and all attempts to take the Spartans successful fighting record into space had failed. He hated feeling useless.

"Keep us away for long enough to start the slip-space drive." Cortana said as she began to reroute power to the slip-space core.

"Aye, aye Ma'am." Came the reply.

Ranma could see that the entire group was tense, sweat was pouring down their faces.

The small frigate flew forwards and began to increase the space between them and the small fleet.

"The ships are beginning to accelerate, and I have an energy build-up... They are charging their weapons." Came the voice from the private manning the weapon-station.

The three ships began to move towards them, and where decreasing the space between them rapidly. Ranma could see on the view screen that the hulls of the enemy craft began to glow blue as they charged up their lasers and plasma torpedoes. Three balls of plasma ejected and flew towards the escaping craft.

The plasma struck them mid-ship, and the frigates shields flared up. Onboard the ship the crew was thrown to the floor and Ranma had to brace himself not to join them as the plasma struck.

Following the plasma where numerous beams of laser turrets that that didn't do much damage.

-------------------------------------

Inside the computer Cortana was desperately trying to get the slip-space engines online, the blast damaged the engines slightly. Another problem they faced was where to go, they couldn't go to Earth because the Cole-protocol clearly stated that any UNSC craft engaged with the Covenant would have to use a course that was outside UNSC territory.

Cortana's line of thought was interrupted as another volley of plasma struck the craft. She could see that the shields were almost collapsing.

------------------------------------------

"I can't take another one, keep us out of the fire." Cortana said over the speakers.

Corporal Emilia Maloy nodded grimly at that. She was the one flying the ship, she had the most experience, but that didn't say much, they where only fifteen from the Navy left. Onboard the Autumn she had been running maintenance checks, but never before had she been flying a UNSC-ship, much less an Covenant one.

If she got out of this one alive she could at least brag about the fact that she was the first human ever to fly a Covenant star-ship.

The ships charged up another volley of plasma and fired. Emilia tried everything to shake the torpedoes off, but the guidance systems always compensated for any change of course. She changed the ships course once again, but the torpedoes where still after her.

She could see as the much faster torpedoes closed the gap between the ship and them. The plasma would hit them on the starboard side, and would without any question destroy the ship. Sweat poured down her face as she looked for any way out of this.

Five seconds..... Four three... two...

She gasped and changed the engine flow, hoping that it would be enough to safe them. The ship's engines went from full speed forward to full speed backwards. The engines literally threw the ship backwards, and the internal gravity fields tried to compensate for the extreme change in gravity. The keywords was "tried", the sudden change threw the entire crew to the floor, and the ships substructure groaned and ruptured in numerous places, the atmosphere being sucked out in several compartments.

"Ma'am, we need the engines NOW! Emilia said and accelerated the craft again.

"Just give me a minute....." Cortana said over the speakers.

"That's a minute we don't have!" Emilia yelled back as she evaded a barrage of laser fire. The laser didn't change course at least.

"Initiating Cole-protocol..... There, slip-space engines online." Cortana said and the image on the view screen shifted. Reality seemed to fold around the ship and swallow it, and in a small flash the ship entered slip-stream.

----------------------------------------------------

Nosolee looked at the ship as it entered slip-space and only shook his head. They wouldn't continue the hunt, their ships were to badly damaged for that, and besides.... The humans deserved to win this fight. As long as the ship didn't contain Flood or other Covenant he was content.

He looked at the gathered crew, no one was doing anything that indicated that they wanted to pursue the fleeing craft. The battles on halo had thought them one fundamental thing, war shouldn't be pursued, it should be avoided.

"Deactivate the weapons, and prepare for a slip-jump." He said and looked out on the now calm sea of stars.

"Where are we going your Excellency?" Hakue asked as he began the preparations.

"Home." He answered simply.

-----------------------------------------------

Ranma once again removed his helmet and placed it under his arm. The crew was busy working on the panels to see if they could do anything to repair the ship.

Cortana's hologram was slowly hovering over their heads, clearly deep in though.

Now it looked like the battle of Halo finally was finished, they had left the system, and the Covenant weren't following them as far as the ships sensors showed. Now they only had to go back to Earth and debrief. The news of Reach destruction would probably have made it by now.

"Cortana, where are we going?" Ranma asked the AI. They weren't going for any human controlled space if the Cole-protocol indicated anything.

"Reach, we can hide there and see if anyone is trailing us, and if no one is we can go to Earth." Cortana said as she shifted her gaze from the crew to the cyborg.

Ranma closed his eyes and nodded.

They were going to Reach....

They were going home...

**Authors Notes:**

Okay, I know that it has been a long while since I updated, but school's been keeping me busy, and besides some fellow authors suggested that I should make a rough sketch on my story to make it easier to write and plan the story. What from the beginning should have been a short description on the upcoming story ended up fifteen pages long, and it's still in progress. If any one had ideas and suggestions that they think could be interesting just review, and I will see what I can do.

Constructive criticism is very appreciated, as it points out what I should change and what I should keep.

Flames will be used as roadblocks to stop the oncoming Covenant Onslaught.

That's all from me.

Xerxez- High Lord of something-really-cool-and-important.


	12. Remnants

**Disclaimer: Don't own this….**

**The Halo of the Hero**

**Chapter-12 Remnants **

_When my enemies went for Heaven, I remained in Hell- Unknown_

**Location: Slip-space**

**Time: Unknown**

Ranma opened the hatch and peeked inside, using a small flashlight to see through the dark. Somewhere in the darkness, one of numerous security panels monitoring engine energy flow was located.

They had been in slip-space for almost three weeks now, three weeks that had been spent pulling the ship back into fighting condition. Emilia's manoeuvre had saved them from being turned into molten slag, but it had also fried most of the engines. They did not need them in slip-space, but once they would leave it they would be a sitting duck.

Ranma, being the most experienced person when it came to Covenant technology, had been assigned to fix them with the help of Cortana. He had spent the last three weeks crawling around in vents and small maintenance tunnels, trying to put together and recalibrate the small independent control systems. Systems that couldn't be fixed at the bridge or by Cortana, and had to be calibrated manually.

He had removed the bulky Mjolnir armour to get more space in the cramped corridors, but it was still a tight fit. The smaller maintenance-tunnels had been designed with the 3 feet Covenant engineers in mind, not a seven feet Spartan.

Ranma sighed as he quickly slithered inside the dark tunnel.

"The panel is sixty meters to your left." Cortanas voice came over the small headpiece he was wearing.

"I hear you." He said as he crawled forwards through the tunnels. He stopped the panel a little later, it wasn't hard to miss at it was glowing and blinking red.

He quickly brushed a hand through, his now somewhat longer, hair, before inserting the small datapad containing Cortana's translation program. After checking to make sure that the program worked in order he began the long work of checking an endless mass of files, even with Cortanas help it took better part of six hours before he was finally able to remerge into the hallway.

He flexed his entire body to drive away the stiff feeling after lying so many hours in a cramped space.

He picked up his discarded gear and walked back towards the bridge in silence.

"You have been awfully quiet, even more so then usual, these last weeks." Cortana's voice once again came over the small headpiece he was wearing.

"I have been thinking about things." He answered simply as he stepped inside a small elevator leading to the upper decks. A small hum was the only thing heard as the lift started.

"Oh? And what are you thinking about?" Cortana voice sounded caring, and a second later Cortana's holographic body appeared over the small panel.

Ranma just shrugged.

"Nothing important." He answered the AI simply.

"No, something is bothering you. You haven't been your usual cool sarcastic self these weeks, no offence." Cortana said and looked at the Spartan with a questioning glance.

"None taken, and as I said it is nothing." He answered again.

"Then you won't mind sharing it." Cortana said quickly.

"No, Cortana." He answered and looked at the AI with unemotional eyes.

The elevator abruptly stopped, and Cortana's hologram crossed her arms in front of her chest and then preceded in casting him a cold look.

"I won't start this elevator until after you have told me what it is that is bothering you." Cortana said and simply raised an eyebrow.

"Cortana, it is none of your business if I am troubled or not." He said sharply and looked at the AI with cold eyes.

"It is my business if it affects you combat performance. Chie…. Ranma, please." Cortana said the last part softly.

Ranma looked at the AI with an unreadable expression before rubbing his eyes tiredly. Had she attempted any other way of persuasion she would have failed, and she knew it. Spartans were the perfects soldiers, and as that they always tried to remain at peak performance, she skilfully used that as an argument.

"We are losing control of the situation" He said, leaned backwards to the wall, and closed his eyes.

An uncomfortable silence came after he answered, only interrupted by the steady hum of the ship.

"Could you please elaborate on that?" She asked carefully.

He opened an eye to look at the AI before nodding.

"Reach, and especially Halo. There we didn't have any control, no plans, we just went with the flow." He said and sounded as if he was arguing with himself.

"Reach cost the Covenant dearly, they lost nearly three times as many ships as us, and Halo… The Covenant casualties there were significant, they must have lost hundreds, if not thousands of ships." Cortana argued with the Spartan.

"Yes, but we also lost nearly 14 billion civilians, and irreplaceable ship-docks and research facilities at Reach. We survived Halo only by sheer dumb luck, something you can't always count on as a soldier." He replied.

Once again an uncomfortable silence fell over the elevator.

"I think we have bit off more then we can chew, I have never felt as helpless before. And more important, the Covenant threat isn't over yet, not by a long shot. The Covenant not only managed to follow us from Reach, they also managed to mobilize another, bigger fleet to put up a blockade around Halo." Ranma continued and looked at the AI with tired eyes.

"So, what should we do, if you had the choice?" Cortana asked.

"We lack the space assets to begin a proper offence. Heck, there aren't even enough ships for a proper defence. The only true advantage we have is that our ground-forces are marginally better then the Covenant's. Unfortunately, they negate that by glassing all of our planets." Ranma said while thinking of different solutions.

"So, we are out of options?" Cortana asked the cyborg.

"No, we have just stated that a frontal assault would fail. Covert warfare, hit and run attacks, assassination, would probably prove more efficient. Problem is, we still don't have the resources, nor the time to build them. If we just somehow could tie down the bulk of the Covenant forces, or perhaps make them turn their interest away from us for a moment, we could get the time needed." Ranma said while looking at the AI again

"Halo might give us the time needed, the Covenant are sure to slow down their search after human colonies after the destruction of one of their sacred artefacts." Cortana pointed out.

"Or they might see it as another reason to exterminate humanity." Ranma said.

Cortana didn't answer that.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Date: 28 September 2552 (Fall of Reach +1 month)**

**Time: 02.30- SET (Standard Earth Time)**

**Location: Sol system, planet Earth, UN Main Orbital HQ.**

"It is half three in the morning, whoever this is you better have a really good reason for waking me up." Admiral Harper grumbled into the phone.

"It is Colonel Patrick, Admiral. Ten UNSC ships just left slip-space and appeared near the Pluto scrap yards." The familiar voice of one of his newer crewmembers reported.

Colonel Patrick always tried to impress his COs, but in reality, he was just an annoying brat. Right now, the Colonel didn't stand in the admirals good graces.

Admiral Harper had gotten precious little sleep the last week, he and other representatives from the different military branches of the UN had met with the UN High Council for the yearly budget meting. Even with the Covenant presence hanging over them, the High Council had cut funding for numerous important projects.

The military representatives, together with the people in Intelligence, and the Research and Development, had been outraged. The UN High Council didn't seem to understand the threat the Covenant was. General Grant had voiced his obvious dislike, stating that "this is what happens when stuck-up politicians gets involved in military business."

Even with the gathered complains from the military leaders, there would still be large funding cuts in most areas, most noticeable the infantry and research departments.

One of the most anticipated projects, the research of functional shield systems to ships, had been completely removed, since it "wasn't cost effective, and had already risen above the anticipated budget." Admiral Harper had arrived back from Geneva only a couple of hours earlier, and was only thinking about a good nights sleep to rid himself of the stupidity of politicians.

"Earth has three dozen slip-space exits every week, Colonel." He replied a little irritated, trying his best to get rid of the annoying Colonel.

"Sir, this one wasn't scheduled, and when we hailed them the captain on the lead cruiser just says he needs to talk with you immediately, admiral."

Harper just grunted in frustration, before pulling on a shirt.

"I am on my way down now." He answered as he picked up the discarded phone.

The station was fully manned twenty-four seven, and Harper saluted and nodded to the various crewmembers as he made his way through the massive space station.

The Command central was a large room, with rows upon rows of computers and communication stations, fully manned it would have over three-hundred-fifty officers coordinating the defence of Earth. Now only some thirty people were there.

The massive main view screen, ten meters tall and fifteen wide, flickered to life as soon as he stepped up towards were Colonel Patrick was standing.

He immediately recognized the face that appeared on the screen, it was Captain O'Donnell, an old friend, and one of the ship-captains guarding Reach. He looked much older then the last time he saw him, the tired look and black rings under his eyes, showed a broken man.

"Captain? What are you doing here?" Harper asked with a growing uneasiness.

"Admiral, Reach….It's gone."

"What do you mean it is gone?" He asked shocked, but he already knew the answer.

"The Covenant, sir, over eight-hundred ships… We did as good as we could, but we never really had a chance." He said in defeat

"What happened, what of the rest of the fleet… The civilians?" Harper said the last part almost terrified.

O'Donnell eyes just unfocused as he looked out at nothing in particular.

"After we lost our Super-MACs, and lost all hope of ever pushing them back, Admiral Stanforth sounded a general retreat. We initiated Cole-protocol and jumped out of human controlled space before coming here. As for the rest of the fleet, I can only assume that they are either dead or on their way here. The civilians…. We didn't get the time to perform a real evacuation. Most of them were… were still there as the Covenant arrived…" He said the last part almost sobbing.

Harper could understand him, almost every soldier of the UN had friends or family on Reach.

"Captain, I… I know it will be hard, but I need you and your crew to keep radio-silence. If this gets out, we will have system wide mass hysteria and panic. I am calling together the Military branches right now. We will take care of this, I promise." Harper said with strength in his voice he knew he didn't have. Inside he felt numb and cold, his sister had been on Reach…

The Captain seemed to collect himself somewhat as the admiral sounded so confidant.

"Yes, Sir." He said and nodded a little to the admiral.

The screen flickered out, and he turned to the personnel standing around the room. Every persons focus was on him.

"That goes for all of you, from this moment on, this information has security Level-Omega." He said and looked with cold eyes on everyone.

They nodded in unison, and began to go back to work.

"Colonel, get me General Grant on the line." He said and rubbed his eyes tiredly, but sleep was the last thing on his mind.

The screen flickered to life once again, but this time is showed a man, whose face was covered in scars.

"Goddamn, Harper, why the hell are you calling me at this time?" He said with irritation in his voice.

"Reach." The way he said it immediately made the General go quiet. Grant knew it was serious, he had known the admiral for almost thirty years, and he had only used that voice four or five times during all those years.

"Amber Arrow?" Grant asked in defeat. It was the codename used when the Covenant glassed a planet.

"Yes, I got the news less then five minutes ago." Harper said and looked out at the stars through one of the windows.

"Wha… What kind of casualties?" He asked, fear for the answer was evident in his voice.

"Total." He answered again.

"My god…." Grant said back in disbelief.

"Call together the Military heads, Level-Omega security on this." Harper said once again without any emotion.

"I…. Yes, I will do it."

The screen once again went dead, but this time Harper turned his attention from it to the sea of stars spread out in front of him.

During the last twenty minutes he had changed his entire way of thinking. Now it wasn't _if_ they Covenant came to Earth, but _when_ they came to Earth.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Covenant Holy City High Charity**

**Hierarch Council Chambers**

**Time: Unknown**

Nosolee walked down the aisle, in full ceremonial armour. The colour wasn't bright gold as the armour that shipmasters and field commanders wore, but instead a deep golden colour that, in low light, could be mistaken for crimson. The armour was that of a fleet-master, one of the highest positions a Covenant elite could achieve apart from being made an elder in the Hierarch council, or attaining the position as Arbiter.

To his right and left, his two war-masters, Hakue and a young, loyal elite, was walking as personal guards, as was Covenant tradition. In reality he didn't need to appoint any war-masters, he had only three ships under his command.

On both sides of the corridor, he could see the High Prophets own personal guard, clothed in their ornamented armour, and holding their long, spear-like melee weapons. With only a quick motion of their hands, the two feet blades at the top would be covered in plasma from hidden plasma emitters, forming a weapon even more lethal then his own ceremonial blade.

The doors to the chamber opened, and he walked in, followed closely by his personal guard.

On both sides of the chamber, there were rows upon rows of talking aliens. He could see on one of the upper rows that the entire gathered elite Elder council was present. They were wearing their silver armour with an ornate helmet, giving them a royal look.

The ceiling of the chamber was covered with thousands of pieces of glass reflecting the light strangely, each coming from a different world glassed by the Covenant. It was an eternal testament of the faith that awaited those who dared to try to defy their covenant.

"Nosolee, Fleet-Master of the seventh and eighteenth Great Fleets, has arrived upon the calling of the honoured High Prophets, Truth, Mercy and Regret." Hakue announced and placed his fist over his heart and bowed deeply, mirroring the bow from his other guard.

The room fell quiet. Nosolee walked forwards and stopped in front of the Prophets before falling to one knee and placing his one hand over his heart and the other on the ground.

The three Prophets looked upon him with indifferent eyes, but small murmurs where heard from the direction of the Elite Elders. The Prophets were sitting in hover-chairs, looking like massive thrones, and they were wearing long deep purple, almost black robes, with a massive ornate headpiece.

"Commander, you have been called here to answer the Councils questions." Regret said royally, catching everyone's attention.

"As you wish, your Excellency." Nosolee said with his head still bowed to the ground.

"Why did the destruction of the vermin's world take such a length of time?" This time it was Mercy who spoke.

"Naelane, former Fleet-Master of the Seventh Great Fleet, lead the assault on the world, Reach. She overwhelmed all the human defences, and annihilated most of their fleet, before the humans began to flee. We where victorious, but not unscarred, the humans MAAK's had destroyed most of our smaller crafts. Naelane and the ships in her personal guard had begun to purge the world, while the rest of the fleet began to pursue the remaining humans to annihilate them."

"So you followed the humans and destroyed them?" Regret said while looking at the elite in approval.

"No, your Excellency. When we were finished with the world and about to pursue the fleeing ships a single human ship emitted a signal, that while filled with static clearly had Forerunner origins…." Nosolee was interrupted as everyone, apart from the three Prophets, began to chatter wildly.

"SILENCE IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER!" Mercy said loudly to the gathered crowd who fell silent.

"Continue." He said sharply.

"Thank you, your Excellency. As the signal was received, Naelane ordered all ships under her command to forget about anything else and pursue that ship. She also sent some ships to alert Versaene, former Fleet-Master of the Eighteenth Great Fleet, that she was pursuing a human craft with potential Forerunner artefacts on them, and that most of her ground forces were dead. Versaene, as he heard this, ordered his entire fleet to help with the capture of that ship. As we entered the system we found more then a human ship with forerunner artefacts."

Nosolee shifted a little uncomfortably, what he was about to reveal would probably cost him his head.

"Orbiting a gas-giant in the system we found a sacred ring….." The roar from the crowd was deafening, the chatter was livid, anticipating.

"Silence." For the first time during the entire meeting Truth spoke. It was calm and collected, but everyone fell quiet. Truth looked out at the gathered crowd and then back at Nosolee.

"You found one of the sacred rings, one of the holy artefacts left by the Forerunner so we could begin the Great Journey?" He said while looking straight into the eyes of the elite.

"And you have brought it under our control?" Mercy continued where Truth left off.

"No, we tried, but I must shamefully admit that we weren't capable to it." He said and waited for the order of execution.

The crowd was becoming angry, throwing insults and request for his execution.

"Explain." Truth said and looked at the crowd, who fell silent.

"Our ground forces found something in a secluded area of the ring, a parasite. Those….abominations spread across the ring as a plague, infecting human and Covenant alike, and when we finally understood the danger they presented it was already too late" Nosolee said and shook his head in anger at the memory.

"WITH THE STRENGTH OF TWO FLEETS, HOW COULD YOU FAIL?" A voice from the gathered crowd roared.

Nosolee closed his eyes, and tried to calm down before replying.

"Most of our ground forces were scattered during the first wave of the parasite, and our ships were useless. We could not fire upon the holy ring, that would be heresy!" He roared the last part back to the council.

"Calm down, Fleet-Master. Continue your tale, for we will judge your actions after you are done." Truth spoke so that everyone in the chamber heard.

Nosolee calmed down before bowing in deep gratitude towards the Prophets.

"I thank you your Excellency. When one of Naelane's war-masters fell in combat I was chosen by her to take his place. Just hours later the Prophets accompanying Versaene and his fleet gave the orders to put up a quarantine around the ring. The twice-damned parasite had at this time cost us almost a third of our battle brothers and sisters, so we had completely forgot about the humans, and that was our downfall." Nosolee said and out of the corner of his eye, he could see the reaction of the council. They were angry beyond belief, but he could understand it, a sacred ring had been lost before the Prophets could unlock its secrets.

"The humans fought their way inside their crashed space ship and managed to detonate the reactors. We were the first to notice the rising energy levels of the space-ship so we managed to make our way from the rings atmosphere. The others headed our warning to late and perished in the unholy flames from the humans' ship."

Murmurs was once again heard as the elite finished his tale.

"And the sacred ring, Halo, what happened with it." Regret asked anxiously.

Nosolee could see that everyone was gazing at him attentively, listening to every word he said.

"It was also destroyed by the humans' hands." He sighed and bowed his head in shame.

The room was completely quiet.

"By simply stating that I have enough reason to execute you. Tell me why I shouldn't have you executed for heresy?" Truth said slowly, looking at the reaction of the elite in front of him.

"I have merely said what I have seen, your Excellency, not what I wish to see." Nosolee said and bowed his head deeply in shame.

Truth looked at the elite with an indifferent look, before turning back to look at the other prophets. He nodded before turning back towards the kneeling warrior.

"Your answer is satisfactory, you may return to you duties. The loss of Halo was the former fleet-masters' error, and would they be among the living they would rightfully bare the blame. The council has decided that you are not in anyway responsible for their actions, you may go." Truth said and nodded to the warrior to rise.

"You shall however, return here tomorrow, so we may discuss this in more detail. The hierarchy might have some important duties for you, Fleet-Master" Truth continued as he saw the relief on the face of the elite.

"As it is the Prophets will." He said and bowed deeply.

Truth didn't reply, he just turned around and hovered out of the chamber followed closely by Mercy and Regret.

Nosolee stood up, and then with a raised head walked out of the chamber. He felt a small amount of relief, he still had his head on his shoulders… For the time being.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Location: Slip-space**

**Time: Unknown**

Ranma stepped out of the elevator and walked the short distance to the bridge. The corpses', blood and empty shell-casings were all gone, the only sign that there ever had been a battle were the black scorch-marks from the Covenant plasma weapons. He was feeling a little better since his talk with Cortana, they had stayed in the elevator nearly an hour thinking and debating different approaches to the entire war.

Not that anyone would listen to him, but it eased his fears somewhat that he had plans to go back to if something happened.

On the raised platform he could see Emilia and Major Silvia talk to each other. They were probably going through the different systems to familiar themselves with the ship.

"Chief, what's the status on the engines?" Silvia yelled and waved her hand to get his attention. He put down the various tools he was carrying before walking up to major.

"Well, I've managed to fix most of the engine regulators, but without a real piece-by-piece maintenance check I can't really promise how long they will work, especially when I don't know what half the things in the engine does." He said and shrugged his shoulders. It was easier to be around people when he wasn't wearing five hundred kilos of metal, and he didn't feel as alienated anymore.

"I thought Cortana said you were the Covenant tech-expert?" Silvia said a little jokingly.

"My expertise in Covenant tech is to how to successfully blow it up, not how to put it back together." He said fully serious, but a small twitch of his lips gave him away.

Major Silvia was about to answer, but a life-size version of Cortana's hologram flickered to life on the platform.

"Well Chief, I am running simulation tests on the engines, and I can get them to thirty percent maximum speed, good work."

"How is the rest of the ship?" Silvia asked as she turned to the AI.

"Well, Sergeant Johnson and his team has managed to fix most of the pulse-laser pin-point defence. Both batteries of plasma torpedoes are fully operational, but we only managed to fix one of the three plasma cannons. I also managed to do some improvements in the magnetic fields holding the plasma torpedoes together, all I needed to do was change some subroutines in the system."

"Why hasn't the Covenant done these upgrades before this?" Emilia asked as she turned away from her holo-panel.

"We always suspected that the Covenant were imitative and not adaptive, just look at their primitive software and tactics. I suspect that the Covenant copied much, if not all, of their technology from Forerunner equipment, but only managed to do so on a basic level. This ship has so many obvious flaws from their unsuccessful attempts to duplicate Forerunner technology it's scary." Cortana said while looking at the gathered humans and one cyborg.

"Why am I not surprised." Ranma said and looked back at the AI.

"If we could get this ship into a dock we could perform some basic upgrades that would increase this ships performance with almost ten percent." Cortana continued, as if Ranma hadn't said anything.

One of the doors leading to the bridge slid open and Sergeant Johnson and a small group of mixed UN-personnel walked inside. When the Sergeant saw the gathered group of the people who was running the show he walked changed his course and walked up the ramp leading to the platform.

"Cortana, we followed your instructions and have fixed the shield-thingy. I ordered the rest to begin to fix the circuits throughout the ships after they get some sleep."

"Understood, and it is a shield circuit emitter, Sergeant, not a shield-thingy." Cortana corrected Johnson.

Johnson just shrugged his shoulders.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Date: 27 October 2552 (Fall of Reach +2 months)**

**Time: 13.30- SET (Standard Earth Time)**

**Location: Shuttle T-342, Survey of orbital defence capabilities. **

Harper gazed out at the different installations surrounding Earth. Smaller shuttles and ships were transporting maintenance-personnel to the different ships and stations.

The UN High Council seemed to become more cooperative as the news of the Fall of Reach reached them. They had given the military unrestricted funds, but Harper knew it was probably already too late. What few people knew was that Earth had lost the position as biggest manufacturer of warships over three-hundred years ago to Reach.

While Earth still had the largest orbital installations, they only produced civilian-crafts and smaller military support ships, not the lumbering capital-class ships that Reach was famous for.

Earth had only seventy percent of the military constructional capabilities Reach had. It would take at least a decade to build the infrastructure to allow Earth to achieve the same production Reach had, especially with the system lacking any larger quantities of metal due to five-hundred years of constant mining. And Harper knew, they didn't have a decade. By that time most of the ships in the fleet would either be destroyed or to old to continue active frontline service.

There was also another reason to motivate the UN-councils decision, on stellar scale Reach had been only a few steps away from Earth, and now with the Covenant at the doorsteps the aliens weren't that far away threat anymore, they were extremely real.

A steady stream of both civilian and military ships had arrived at Earth, hundreds of evacuation vessels and smaller military crafts, together with fifty-two capital-ships from the Reach space fleet.

The stream had become smaller the last week, and the ships that now arrived were considered the stragglers.

They went public with the destruction of Reach two weeks ago, and thanks to the preparations there weren't any larger incidents of panic. However, the fighting moral was down the drain, especially with the legendary Spartans among the dead.

He, together with the other Commanders in Chief, had been ordered to put together a plan that would insure the continued survival of humanity in the event of a Covenant assault on Earth.

They had analysed every bit of data about the battle at Reach, and working from there had begun to device solutions to the more obvious flaws.

Harper had decided to get a first hand look at the defences, both to get a more proper look of the situation, and to raise the moral.

First and foremost in the defence of Earth was the thirty Super MACs' in geo-sync orbit around Earth, firing a 30 000 ton solid tungsten round at one-seventh the speed of light.

They would annihilate any smaller crafts hit, and inflict tremendous damage to larger ships.

All MAC's were placed in battle-clusters with three in each, and the crossfire the Admiral anticipated from placing them in such a way would hopefully slow down the Covenant.

Apart from having almost the double amounts of MACs' around Earth then Reach, there were an additional three in lunar orbit, two around Mars, and four around Pluto.

Apart from the MACs', there were also numerous hundred and fifty year old, badly maintained orbital missile defence stations that the past decades had served as storage for ship parts.

He had put a great deal of UNSC-technicians to repair them and make them fit for battle, and the repairs were being done, but not without incidents. Most of the equipment was old and needed to be changed, but most of the modern equipment was incompatible with the old one, so it took time to make the adjustments.

Apart from the orbital missile defence there was also a land-based one. That one however was considerable older then the ones in space, it had been built more then four-hundred years prior, and consisted only of nuclear weapons. All of the missile-silos were marked as sites of historical value after the sixteen-minute war back in the 22nd century, and as such had been maintained many times better then its orbital counterpart.

Had it been under different circumstances Harper would have laughed at the fact that the weapons that their ancestors had built hundreds of years ago, and had caused one of the darkest and bloodiest chapters in human history, today would be used to prevent their destruction.

With the liberty to use all of the UN tactical nuclear reserves, General Grant had the brilliant idea to use the massive ancient robots to be equipped with prototype Ares-warheads.

Admiral Harper had been sceptical at first, but those robots were the only ones large enough to actually carry the Ares-warhead. Thirty of these prototype warheads had arrived from Reach six months back, but the robot to carry them hadn't been fully developed yet, and now they would never be. The relic-robot, as many of the involved engineers had begun to call it, were the only way to actually make use of the Ares-warheads.

The debriefings had shown that most of the Super-Mac's at Reach had been disabled because of the destruction of the planetary reactors, so the normal defence force had been increased if the Covenant tried the same tactic again, which was almost guaranteed, the Covenant always used the same tactics.

General Grant had assured him that he would be able to fight off an equal number of Covenant ground forces.

If worst came to worst, they could call in an air-strike from one of the many fighter/bomber wings in space.

The true problem came when he reviewed the fleet.

Even if he counted the damaged ships from Reach he still only had 256 capital-ships, and that was too few to put up an effective defensive perimeter around Earth. The gathered military heads had argued over that over the course of numerous hours. In the end, the answer had come from the ensign that had served the coffee.

"Admiral, you have already ordered that two outdated defence systems be brought back online, why not continue with it and take a look around the Pluto scrap yards?" The ensign had asked when he had poured the admiral a new cup.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Location: Slip-space**

**Time: Unknown**

Ranma settled down in his own corner of the bridge, and began to eat the meagre rations they had been served today. Even thought the ship's canteen was well stocked, and Cortana said that the elites and humans had similar eating-habits, no one wanted to try the food unless they had no other option.

Ranma munched on the last of his protein-bar and gulped down some water. One of the ODST looked at him, and then stood up and walked over to him.

"I see that you were a Helljumper once." He said and motioned to the half-concealed tattoo on Ranma's arm.

Ranma nodded and rolled up the sleeve to show him the entire tattoo, he had no reason to hide it. It would just be another thing that would convince people that they simply were highly trained soldiers that had joined an elite force, and not genetically enhanced humans that had been trained since they were children.

"So, were do I have to sign to get an armour like yours?" The helljumper asked with a smile.

"You don't." He said and avoided the question.

"Oh?" The Helljumper asked confused.

Ranma mentally sighed before he replied.

"I was recruited, but if you ask me what chart they followed when they picked us I don't know." He said honestly, and it wasn't an complete lie either.

"Oh." He said a little dejected.

The conversation continued a couple of minutes, staying mostly with the helljumper's, and the occasional curios question about the Spartans. It all ended when the soldier had to end his break and continue his work.

He stretched a little before laying down on the couple of blankets that was his bed. Being a Spartan didn't make him immune to the effects of fatigue, so with his assigned workload done, and no more interruptions he was about to go to sleep.

As he was about to close his eyes however, an irritating feeling that didn't go away feel over him. It continued to grow steadily, increasing in strength for every second that went by. It was very vague, he had no idea why and were it came from.

He stood up and walked around the bridge, trying to clear his head of the feeling. The more he tried to rid himself of it the more it gnawed in the back of his head.

He stepped up to the raised platform, and he could see that Emilia was running the checks on the sub-light engines Cortana had asked her to do.

Then something happened, had Ranma tried to explain it he would have described it as someone stroking a guitar string in his head, it was like a long vibrating tone in the back of his head.

"Cortana, we just left slip-space." He said without knowing how he knew that, and turned to the small hologram on one of the screens.

Cortana didn't get the time to reply, because a second later it seemed like the entire sub-structure of the ship groaned. He didn't get time to ponder why, because the entire ship shook violently, and the entire bridge seemed to lurch at least sixty degrees to the left. Even with all his superhuman reflexes he didn't manage to stay on his feet, he began to slide down the platform but managed to grab one of the pillars supporting the holo-screens.

With the other hand he managed to grab collars of Emilia who was about slide past him.

There was no up or down in space, so even if the ship decided to tilt to the side there wouldn't be any gravity to alert the crew of the change in direction. The only logical explanation to their situation was that either they had crashed into something that had a large gravity field, or the systems that powered the artificial gravity had gone bonkers.

Emilia meanwhile, had managed to crawl to one of the panels, and began to try and get an assessment on the situation, something that was made considerably harder with the fact that she had to hold onto the screen as not to fall down.

"Were we attacked?" She yelled to the hologram of Cortana who was flickering in and out of existence the entire time, the speakers must have been damaged because they could only catch small bits of words from the AI. The ships sub-structure was still vibrating madly, and he could hear the groan of metal as it was bent.

Ranma crawled over to where Emilia was standing and moved her aside to get a better look at the damage. He quickly went through the different systems, most systems had malfunctioning software, so the search for the cause of everything still eluded him.

"Cortana, can you hear me?" Emilia yelled over the sound.

Cortana's hologram flickered out once and then on, but this time she remained, she had a frantic expression.

"Chief, the slip-space engines went unstable when we entered normal space, and I can't cut the energy flow. Worse, the cooling systems is overloaded and has begun automated shutdown, the reactors have already reached dangerous levels, full reactor meltdown in less the three minutes. Get down their and vent the entire engine system NOW!" She sounded hysterical as she yelled the last part.

Ranma let go of the panel and slid along the floor.

He jumped down an open door and took off with full speed down the tilting corridors. The light over the door at the lift glowed red, but he slammed his shoulder as hard as he could against it, and with a loud bang it flew open. He jumped through the door and slid down the shaft.

He counted the decks he slid past, and as he came to the one with the engine room on it his arm flashed out and clutched the small ledge. He gritted his teeth in pain as his arm was dislocated at the sudden stop.

He pulled himself up with the other arm and swung a leg over the edge. The door flashed red, and then green, before it opened.

"Thanks." He said to the ever-present AI as he continued to run down the corridor.

"One minute twenty seconds left. Ranma, please hurry!" Came the frantic reply.

He stumbled forwards as the gravity corrected itself, but his body reacted on instinct and instead of bracing himself he let his momentum carry him into a forwards-roll that ended with him on the feet again.

He hastily looked down the three corridors before taking off down one of them.

"This is the wrong way, you can't pass…" Cortana began.

Ranma ran through an open door into one of the large maintenance shafts that made it possible to move larger pieces of equipment throughout the ship. On the opposite sides of each other was a catwalk separated by the twenty-meter wide gap.

Ranma didn't even slow down as he with a quick jump planted one foot on the railing, and then with a giant leap flew over the bottomless chasm.

"Shortcut." He simply said as he landed and left a massive dent in the floor.

"here…." Cortana trailed off unbelievingly.

As he ran through the door he had a straight path to the engine-room. His body became a blur as he sprinted down the corridor.

"Thirty seconds!" She yelled over the comm-system.

He looked around the engine room quickly for any sign of the panel or switch.

"Three catwalks up!" Cortana screamed as the Spartan hesitated a split second.

Ranma didn't even look around for a flight of stairs, instead he ran straight towards the wall, and jumped up. It looked like he ran a couple of steps straight up the wall before he kicked off as hard as he could. He flew upwards while making a backwards flip, and with a loud crash, landed on the catwalk opposite the wall.

"Big red glowing button, press it now!" He heard the AI yell.

He saw the object in question and ran as fast as he could, stopping only to touch the button.

The panel's light flashed once and changed from red to green.

The vibrating became less violent, and the entire ship seemed to sigh in relief.

"Dumping all excess plasma." Cortana's now much calmer voice said.

A loud humming was heard, probably the plasma being redirected. The humming increased in pitch, until he could hear a loud screech coming from his right. It definitely didn't sound like anything good happening. He took a step back, but that was all he had time to do, because the wall exploded outwards and the blast pushed him over the railing.

Everything seemed to go in slow-motion as he fell backwards down to the floor. He didn't have anytime to braze for impact, so he slammed into the metal deck with full force.

He could only look in amazement as the upper part of the engine room exploded in a ball of blue fire, the explosion seemed to start a chain reaction that went from the top of the bottom.

He had enough time raise his arm in front of his face before the shockwave reached him, throwing him through the entire room like a human cannonball, before finally slamming into a broken piece of machinery. He slumped down and had time to see the entire engine explode in a storm of plasma and shrapnel, before the explosion hit him and everything went black.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Covenant Holy City High Charity**

**Hierarch inner sanctum **

Nosolee walked through the massive door guarded by half a dozen of the Honour Guards.

As the door closed behind him he fell down into the traditional bow of respect, not daring to speak before being spoken too.

"Ah, fleet-master, good of you to join us." He could hear Regret say.

"It was your orders, honoured hierarch." He stated simply, head still bowed.

The Prophet didn't answer that.

"I wish you to meet Zimmae, fleet-master of the Second Great Fleet, and Tartarus, chieftan of the brutes, and fleet-master of the Thirty-First Great Fleet." Regret continued, and Nosolee raised his head to look at the persons in question.

Zimmae looked at him in arrogant indifference, while Tartarus looked at him as if measuring him up. He stared back with the same look. Tartarus crossed his arms over his chest and nodded an almost unperceivable nod, and then huffed in respect. Nosolee then turned to look at the other elite.

"I thought that Nyaeven commanded the second Great Fleet." He asked the other elite.

"She has joined her ancestors in the halls of the dead, her age finally defeating her. I was appointed as her replacement as commander of the fleet, while the mentor Narmia has shouldered the burden as Head of the Council" Zimmae said and bowed his head in respect to the memory of the dead leader.

Nosolee nodded in understanding, Nyaeven had been old, even for a elite.

"Tomorrow her cremation will be, and as a Fleet-Master you are allowed to the ceremony." Mercy said.

"She has for generations been a role-model for young aspiring warriors, so it would be a great honour to personally witness the ceremony." Nosolee said and looked at the Prophet with respect.

"Now, while the burial of fleet-master Nyaeven is important it was not the reason we called you here." Regret said and motioned for them to step closer.

"We are here to deal with one of the problems that has been a thorn in our side for a long time, the humans." Mercy continued where Regret left off.

"Noble hierarch, we were unable to attain the position of the human homeworld, all their ship…" Nosolee began, but Truth raised a hand to silence him.

"We have attained that knowledge elsewhere, the battle at Reach was just to cripple their already meagre forces." Truth said to the elite.

Nosolee bowed in understanding.

"Noble hierarch, may I then ask why we haven't eradicated that vermin yet?" Zimmae asked and sounded disgusted as he said vermin.

"They are vermin yes, but it would not be above them prepare a trap. This is what the entire war has been about, destroying their worlds was a way to ensure that they fought with all their forces, otherwise they may have only used a handful and concealed their through strength. Reach was the final test, the humans revered that world almost as much as their homeworld, Earth, and they would have tried anything as not to let it fall." Mercy said as he explained.

"The fact that it did fall, and the fact that even though we lost almost an entire fleet, we still were victorious, has made us certain that they do not have any special ships or weapons that could turn the tide of battle into their favour. We have anticipated that Earth will be as well defended as Reach, but the cost in blood is more then enough payment to see their empire in ruins." Regret continued for Mercy.

Nosolee nodded in understanding, as did Tartarus, Zimmae however, didn't seem to appreciate the advantage the decision had given them.

"Now, fleet-master Melaene, commander of the twelfth Great Fleet, has begun the path that will ultimately lead to the end of the human heretics and their heresy. He and his fleet has split up and begun the journey to the last of the human worlds, and he has the orders to set fire to every single one, every one except Earth. When he is finished he will return here, and when that happens, you will set out with every single ship under your command and assault the last of the humans worlds." Truth finished the

"As it is your orders, Noble Hierarchs." The three chorused and placed their closed fists over their hearts.

"You shall however, claim this world in honour of our Covenant _intact_." He said to the gathered warriors.

"Noble hierarch…." Zimmae began, but was cut off before he said another word.

"Are you questioning our decision?" Truth said calmly to the elite.

"No, only voicing my concern, the humans are filth, a plague upon this universe, why spare them?" He asked, his voice filled with religious zeal.

"The reason we spare that planet is only for us to know, but rest assured fleet-master, they humans will be punished for their defiance, a faith worse then death awaits them." Truth said regally.

"Go now, and prepare your ship-crews and you warriors. Commander Nosolee, stay, we have further things to discuss." Mercy said as the three warriors bowed deeply and was about to leave.

Nosolee nodded and turned back to the Prophets.

The doors behind him slid close and the dark room was only illuminated by the light coming through the massive windows cowered by long banners, all decorated with exquisite symbols and runes.

"I see something is troubling you, speak what is on your mind." Mercy said and nodded to the elite.

"I… Is it appropriate to entrust such a mission to them?" He said and spoke up.

"You doubt their faith?" Mercy said slowly.

"No, faith they do not lack, what I doubt is their capability." Nosolee said.

"Oh, you think you are more capable to lead this assault?" Mercy said and looked at the elite with an interested expression.

Nosolee shook his head in negative.

"No, I do not deny the fact that I am inexperienced as well, I only have my position because I was the last war-master left after Halo. My warriors needed the firm leadership of a Covenant Commander after the devastating loss of moral caused by the destruction of the Halo." He took a pause to collect himself, and to organize his thoughts.

"Tartarus is a brute, and it is no news that elite relations with the brutes has been… strained, so my accusations may be biased. Brutes are known to disregard rules and the code of honour to achieve their goals, and I do not think Tartarus is an exception. He seems like a competent leader, but I have yet to see him in combat so I will not say anything yet." He took a pause again to think about his feeling for the younger elite, Zimmae.

"Tartarus has followed and obeyed every order we have given him, and your assumptions about his leadership qualities are right, he is indeed a fine soldier.

"Then my pre-justice against the brutes was false, and for that I apologize."

"You have simply seen you faults, a quality a commander will need to be successful." Regret said to the elite.

"Thank you, noble Hierarch."

"Then please continue, this discussion has been… enlightening."

"Zimmae… Is hard to explain… I think he lacks the real experience." Noslee said and thought of someway to explain it to the council.

"He is inexperienced, yes, but his fate doesn't falter like so many others. We have the hopes that he will become a symbol for coming generations, as Nyaeven was a symbol for the current and past generations." Mercy said and explained for the elite.

"I understand, that was all that was on my mind, noble hierarch" He said simply, but mentally a small part of his mind doubted the wisdom of the council for a second.

"Now then, with that settled you may wonder why you will participate in this assault, when you currently only have three ships under your command." Mercy began.

"You have proven yourself worthy to be our eyes. In the council chamber you spoke the undeniable truth, even at the risk of being called a heretic. You told us the facts, and nothing more, letting us make our own judgement based on this. The council would normally condemn such behaviour, but with the severity of this situation you did as good as you could, that not saying that we are pleased with the destruction of halo, and you still have a long way to go before you and your warriors may be blessed with our favour again." Regret continued.

"As a step on the way to redeem yourselves, you will stay back and monitor the battle for us to review later. We wish to see how effective Tartarus will be against the humans, the brutes still hasn't fought any battle of this scale." Truth finished.

"I will prepare my crew for the upcoming tasks." He said and bowed his head in acknowledgement to the prophets' orders.

"Before you go, you may want to know that while you don't need any major ship numbers for this kind of mission, three ships are still too few. Thirty ships have been added to your command, but the crews you have to find yourselves." Mercy said to the still bowing elite.

"I wish to thank you, noble Hierarch, for your generosity." Nosolee said and bowed deeply in gratitude.

"Now be gone, we have much to discuss." Truth said and dismissed the elite.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

**Location: Pluto, orbital scrap-yard**

**Date: 5 January 2553**

"So, how are things going?" Harper asked as he looked out of the window at the old ships sitting side by side. To his right the main maintenance officer of the orbital scrap-yard was standing. With all the cuts in funding they had about as much personnel as to make sure that the ships didn't float away, any form of regular checks of the ships were only made in someone dreams.

"Bad, most of the ships look fine from the outside, but inside they are a mess, we have to change both computer systems, and wiring. Changing the wiring isn't hard, any half-assed engineer or technician can do it, but changing everything in a ship that is one and a half kilometres long and have more then a hundred-thousand meters of cable and you see the problem." He said and nodded to the few ships that was moving to Earth of own engine.

"How many of them are space-worthy?" Harper asked and looked out the window again.

"Well, the nine halcyon-cruisers are in best shape, but then they have only been here for five years, and the six Athens-missile battle-cruisers are working with sixty percent. The rest, we will need time to get them working." He said and brushed some sweat away from his sot-covered forehead.

"And how long will it take to get a ship working?" Harper asked the man.

"Well, with the personnel that you gave me, I might get one, perhaps two ships a week into good condition, but didn't get your hopes up, these ships were ancient even during my great-grandfathers days." The man said and shook his head.

"And what condition does a ship here have when it is considered good?" Harper asked the technician.

"That they don't explode during their trip to Earth." He said serious, and the grim face made the admiral certain he wasn't kidding.

"And what with the work on the E-one to E-four?" Harper asked the technician again.

The man looked at the admiral with an unreadable expression before he answered.

"I can't say for sure, they are still checking through it to see where to start, no one has been inside those crafts the last four-hundred years, and the work needed to be done seems to be more extensive then we first thought. It might take two months, it might take a year, I can't say for sure yet." He said and closely watched the admiral, and as the admiral closed his eyes, he decided to speak up again.

"Admiral, do you really think they might be needed, that there is no hope?" He said to the admiral in a worried voice.

"They will be our absolute last line of defence against the oncoming onslaught." He said and sighed.

"And son." He said to the technician.

"Yes, sir?" The man answered back.

"This will be left between the two of us." He said and turned back to the window, where another of the halcyon-cruisers left for Earth.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

**Covenant Holy City High Charity**

**Mausoleum of the Arbiter **

Nosolee slowly walked in the funeral-procession with the rest of the elite elder council, and the gathered fleet-masters. As it was only elites allowed to the funeral, Tartarus wasn't present. Instead of the ceremonial armour, they were all wearing long white robes.

They were chanting, the voices echoed throughout the massive chamber, and it sounded like a thousand voices hymned the sacred melodies. The stretcher with the body of Nyaeven was slowly carried to the centre of the chamber, in front of the pillar in which the armour of the sacred arbiter rested. The placed the stretcher on an ornate dais made of a black, scorched metal.

The chanting became stronger, the words in an almost forgotten language, praising the arbiters and then the pain they felt for the loss of a warrior such as Nyaeven.

Her replacement as head elder, Narmia, slowly walked up to the dead, and all chanting stopped. He took tone were the others left off, and he sang out the deeds she had done in her life, the battles she had fought, the enemies she had slain, and the warriors she had trained.

He asked the arbiters to watch over her soul until the start of the Great Journey, and to prepare her as best they could. Narmia then fell to his knees next to the dead, and carefully removed a green-blue crystal imbedded in the chest of Nyaevens armour, and then placed it into his own.

The chanting began once again, and increased in strength.

Every member of the council pulled out the hilt of their ceremonial swords, and ignited them.

The twenty councillors surrounded the stretcher, and then plunged their swords deep into the podium, fuelling the machinery within. Bright blue flames appeared on the podium, and began to burn the body of Nyaeven.

Soon only her armour remained, and after only awhile, even that disappeared.

The council members deactivated their swords, and the flames flickered out, leaving only ash on the podium.

The ashes were carefully gathered in a small ceramic urn, which was handed to everyone present.

Nosolee covered his fingertips with the ash, and then smeared it out on his white robe, around his heart. The small urn with the ash would then be placed in the halls of the elder, not as grand final resting place as the mausoleum of the arbiter, but almost as much respected.

Being cremated in the mausoleum of the arbiter was a privilege only the most honoured of warriors were allowed. He looked on Narmia whilst he was chanting, and knew that he would be a good replacement for Nyaeven, he had been given the unofficial title of the mentor by the lower ranks, as an act of honour to recognize the amount of famous warriors he had trained, which he was one off.

The changing of the head elder, was always followed by a purely formal meeting, but this time the questions of his continued role as leader of two of the Great Fleets would be brought up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Location: Unknown**

**Time: Unknown**

Ranma slowly opened one of his eyes, and then gritted his teeth in pain as he looked straight at some lights. He groggily tried to recall what had happened , and some blurry images of a explosion came to his mind. He tried to stand up, but a sharp stab of pain in his abdomen quickly stopped all movement. He was sitting with his back against a wall.

He raised his hand to wipe away some blood from his lip, and he could see that the sleeve on his jumpsuit was slightly scorched, but not enough to have been fatal. He had been hit by the shockwave, and the air had probably been heated by the plasma. If he had been exposed to plasma directly there would have been more damage to his jumpsuit, heck there wouldn't have been a jumpsuit, nor a Spartan left for that matter.

He quickly checked his arms for any sign of injury, burns of any kind should be treated at once.

Happy with finding no damage he began to check the rest of his body. As he moved his head a sharp pain flared in his neck. He prayed that he hadn't damaged his spine, or injured his air-pipe, or had cut a major artery.

As he moved his hand up to the place where the pain originated from he could feel a long, sharp piece of metal dangerously close to his neck. He moved his head slowly away from the piece of shrapnel, and as he looked at it he could see that it had buried itself deep into the wall, if he had only been a couple of centimetres more to the right the thing would have cut his head off.

Another stab of pain in his abdomen made him lock down, and he cursed at the sight.

Another piece of shrapnel had buried itself into the wall, but this time it hadn't missed him.

It had stabbed him through his stomach, and was buried deep into wall behind him, making it impossible to move without further aggravating the wound. The piece of metal must have been in close proximity to the plasma, because Ranma could see that the metal had cauterised the wound. Normally people wouldn't be to happy by being impaled by a large piece of burning metal, while Ranma didn't consider it good, he considered it less bad, he wouldn't die of blood loss at least.

"Cortana?" He asked out, hoping that some of the comm.-equipment had survived the blast.

Nothing but an eerie silence greeted him. He picked up his headset that had fallen onto the floor and tried again.

"Is anyone alive?" He croaked out.

He heard a low moan over the short range frequency.

"Respond, is anyone in the area surrounding the FTL-engines?"

"Ugh, Yeah. What the hell happened?" The familiar voice of Sergeant Johnson came over the radio. He sounded dazed, but then again having the entire ship shake like crazy could do that to a person.

"We had a critical failure in the main plasma conducts regulating the FTL-engine." Cortana's voice said over the radion.

"Once again in English." The Sergeant said, still pretty dazed.

"Large engine thing go BOOM." Ranma responded and groaned in pain.

"Oh." The Sergeant said.

"Sir, are you alright? Most of the sensors in the comportment are down, I can't get a stable reading on you." Cortana said over the comm.

"No, I need medical treatment, call down a couple of men…." He said and carefully touched the piece of metal shrapnel.

"And make sure they have some cutting equipment." He added.

"Affirmative. Johnson, you are closest, get down there while I send some more people to you." Cortana said over the comm.

"Okay, on my way."

"Cortana, what happened?" He said and tried to take his mind from the offending piece of metal nailing him to the wall.

"I don't know, there was a large surge in slip-spac…" Cortana began but then stopped.

"Everyone, I need to shut down all power throughout the ship, I need absolute radio-silence." Cortana said quickly, and then everything in the ship just turned off.

One after another the ships systems began to shut off, computer, sensors, weapons, shields, lights, and then finally gravity. Ranma could feel his body becoming weightless, and he made sure not to make any sudden movements to further aggravate his injuries.

He switched his radio to passive, and then just leaned his head backwards and waited.

He couldn't really say how long he had waited, it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, in the darkness it all became the same. He just sat silent and listened, he could hear the occasional groan of the substructure as the metal corrected itself after the ships violent movements.

After a while he thought he saw distance flashes of light, but dismissed it as his imagination.

He closed his eyes, he was becoming increasingly more tired. He was about to fall asleep when a voice woke him up.

"Chief? Are you alive in there?" The voice of sergeant Johnson said and his voice echoed through the empty chamber.

"Yeah, I'm here." He coughed out, but the echoes made it impossible to pinpoint the voice.

Ranma could see the sweeping light from a flashlight, and as it began to move away he quickly grabbed one of the emergency lights, and bent the piece of plastic.

The chemicals mixed and then emitted a ghostly green-yellow light that made it possible for Johnson to find Ranma.

"Christ! What the hell happened?" He exclaimed as he saw Ranma.

Ranma didn't respond as his body seemed to become more and more sluggish. He could see as Johnson kneeled next to him and began to attend his wounds, carefully removing the jumpsuit with a combat-knife to get to the wound directly. He could see as two others hastily made their way into the engine-room, walking around the piles of debris littering the room.

He recognised one as a marine, and the other being the medic in the small group of helljumpers' that survived.

They began to help Johnson in treating his wounds.

"_Shit… serious…" _He could only hear bits on their conversation, the rest just became background noise.

"_Right through…body… shock…"_ The medic removed a small flashlight, and lifted his head carefully up so he could see his irises reaction to the exposure to light.

The man carefully lowered his hand to make sure he didn't make the wound on his neck worse, but Ranma's head didn't fall forwards, it stayed up looking over the shoulders of the three men performing emergency treatment of his wounds.

"_fully opened… no reaction… light…losing…" _

Standing behind them was a group of what appeared to be children, no one could have been older then ten, they were looking at him with friendly and honest smiles.

Even though their faces were young, and there eyes didn't show the same tiredness, pain and coldness from war, he still recognised who they were.

They were the Spartans, or the Spartans as they had been as children. He quickly looked over the gathered group, looking at the faces of friends thought long gone, faces of people that had been dead for years.

But as he looked over the people he noticed that some were some gaps in the otherwise perfect lines they were standing in, and soon he realised that not all the Spartans were present, a noticeable part was absent.

He looked questionable at the gathered children, but they only smiled back mysteriously.

One of the children stepped forwards, and Ranma recognised the child as Fred, one of the soldiers in his group, and one of his most trusted friends. He had been one of the team leaders that had been sent planetside on Reach.

But he didn't have the countless scars of battle, or the cold piercing green eyes he had the last time he saw him, he was smiling, and his eyes was twinkling in happiness. Ranma slowly raised his hand, and in response Fred raised his.

Their fingertips touched, and the dark hollow feeling that had grown the last years diminished considerable.

"_Find them" _Fred mouthed to him, then took a step backwards back into the lines.

One after another they began to fade away, waving their hands farewell.

"_Who?" _He mouthed back, trying desperately to move the rest of his body to make sure that they didn't leave him again, that they didn't leave him all alone.

"_Find them" _Fred mouthed again.

Soon the only one left was Fred who also began to fade away. He waved farewell as Ranma desperately tried to move his body, but failed.

"_Bye bro" _ Fred mouthed before finally disappearing.

As Fred finally vanished Ranma let his head fall and darkness once again engulfed him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Location: Geneva, Earth **

**Date: 29 January 2553**

"….Hanover, Rein, Bretagne, Constantinople, Rhodes, all in all 19 colonies completely annihilated by the first wave of Covenant ships, all within the span of 20 hours. All military experts agree, the Covenant must have captured navigational data, and these attacks are only to probe our defences. If the accounts from the ships from Reach are accurate the remaining Covenant ships from Reach alone would be able to take out all the colonies in only a few small attack waves." One of the captains said to the rest of the assembly.

"We lack the resources to send aid to any colony, everything we have is needed here." Another said.

The argument had gone on for hours after the first report of the destroyed colonies reached the UN's ears.

"Captain, how many human colonies are there left?" Admiral Harper decided to speak up, he had been sitting quiet the entire time.

"Seven hundred and thirty four colonies, most of them are of the inner circle of the inner colonies, sir." The captain said solemnly.

The admiral nodded, he already knew that, but it was a good way to stop the bickering that had plagued this meeting. But hearing the number spoken out loud was still shocking to him, he remembered only twenty years prior when the inner colonies had numbered close to 2500, and the outer colonies many times more.

Now the vast intergalactic empire that humanity had built over the course of over 500 years was only shadows of its former glory.

"I must shamefully admit that there is no chance to aid any of these colonies, but we can still not let them be mercilessly slaughtered." He said softly, but the quiet in the room made it perfectly audible for everyone.

"Then what to you propose we do?" The captain asked.

"A full scale evacuation of all the colonies." He said and by the shocked looks nobody thought that was what he would say.

"But we lack the assets to evacuate everyone." The captain countered.

"The scrap yards around Houston, Corsica and Rome, and our own around Pluto have already been notified to bring all ships, but most importantly warships back into space-worthy condition. All warships have been redeployed here, while the civilian ones have been left without orders. I suggest that we issue a 253-D to take direct command over all civilian ships with FTL-drives, get them to pick up as many colonials as possible, then high tail it out of there. We will not be able to save everyone, but we will be able to save a good part." Harper finished and looked at assembled military.

The others nodded in resignation, everybody knew that this was by far the best alternative.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

**Location: Colony Brazil, High Orbit, freighter Colonial-4367-Alpha **

**Date: 5 February 2553 (Evacuation of human colonies + 2 weeks)**

"Cap'n, cargo bay, 1, 3, 7, and 14 are done, and we will have 13 and 9 done in a couple of hours." A man in oil covered overalls said to the only other occupant of the small office.

Captain Reistadt looked up from the terminal he was working at and nodded in understanding. He wasn't a Captain in the UN, and it was years since he was in the navy, only a civilian, but owner and captain of the vessel C-4367-A, one of three ships in the small family business.

As the message about a full 253-D from the UNSC arrived, and their orders to take as many people with them as possible, he hadn't hesitated a single second to flush his entire cargo of computers out into space, and then head for his designated coordinates ASAP.

To him it was about god damned time the UN began to think.

When he had arrived at Brazil he had encountered the largest assortment of different ships he had ever seen, it appeared that the UN was ordering every thing that could fly to act as rescue boats.

The coordination of the fleet, or rather lack thereof, had been hindering the evacuation, no one knew how long they would stay on the ships, so some ships only had a few people with them, while others, including Reistadt, tried to get as many people aboard as possible.

There had been a large disagreement among the ship-captains, and it had ended when Reistadt had been forced to physically threaten a couple of others with throwing them out the airlock if they didn't try to get as many people as possible of the planet.

That act had somehow led to him becoming the unofficial commander of the small fleet, it had been small at first, just asking for advice in regards to the evacuation, but three days since the beginning and after only a few ships had managed to get an acceptable amount of people aboard they had stated that they needed his help.

The first thing he did was to use the planets interstellar communications facility to make contact with Earth to relay the problems.

Had someone three weeks ago told him that he would be using top priority channels to make contact with the UNSC's Military High Command at Earth to _complain_ he wouldn't believed them.

The UN had assured them that they would contact the other colonies to make sure their was a proper and efficient chain of command, and as the one with enough guts to call them, and as a graduate of Reach Naval Academy he had been given the dubious pleasure of making sure the fleet at Brazil made it to back to Earth for further orders with as many people as possible.

He looked out the window as another shuttle made its way towards the ship, it would then dock and quickly make its way back to the planet were it would pick up another round of people.

He looked down at the terminal and could see that his ship alone carried almost sixty times more people onboard then what should be possible. All the nonessential people that only took up space where then herded into one of the thirty four cargo bays in the ship were they would be placed in cryo-sleep, another idea that had been suggested by his brief chat with admiral Harper.

Cryo-tubes was a relatively simple technology, and rather common even among the civilians, so it hadn't proven to hard get enough tubes to fill all excess space aboard the ship. He had done a brief trip down to one of the cargo bays and it was filled to the brink with cryo-tubes, lying next to each other, hundreds in a row. People would then place themselves inside, there had been a couple of people that were sceptic, but noting serious. Once an entire row was occupied, another row would be placed on top of the first one, and so it continued until there was no more space.

Apart from the rag-tag fleet, the planet being one of the inner colonies also had a large number of the B-302 rescue boats, unfortunately they had nowhere near the number of ships to evacuate the entire planet, and Reistadt didn't know if he would have the guts to leave an entire planet to fend for itself.

Worse, he could only imagine the amount of hysteria planteside, he had been able to see one of the few news reports before the entire global communication had fallen apart. In less then a week a prosperous and organized system had been turned into an anarchistic war zone, the only thing people cared about now was getting off the planet.

Reistadt sighed and let his head rest on the cold desk surface, Brazil was just one of a thousand colonies being evacuated, her could just imagine the chaos in one of the larger systems.

There was a knock on the door and a second later the same dirty clothed man stepped in.

"Cap'n, another group of B-302's has left the planet, the boys down there say that they should be finished in another day or two, maybe three if the fighting down there gets worse." He said and looked down on the small notepad in his hand.

"The ships already in orbit?" Reistad asked, and rubbed his eyes.

"Seven to ten days, 'cause the lack of any larger type of shuttles is seriously hindering the evac." He said and quickly looked through a couple of notes.

"Okay, notify me if anything changes, I will hit the sack now." He said and nodded to the crewman.

"Aye, aye, skipper." The man said and left.

Reistadt turned back to his desk and pulled out a half full bottle of whiskey, seventy five years old, and poured himself a glass. He just hoped he could live with himself after this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

**Location: Unknown**

**Date: Unknown**

Ranma once again opened his eyes, but was only met with blurry shades. He blinked a couple of times and he could see the blurs slide into focus.

"Careful sir, don't move or you might aggravate the injury." The medic said and carefully moved his head a little.

"How long?" He half groaned, half gasped.

"Only a short time, forty five minutes, we managed to get that shrapnel out of you, and are moving you to the bridge." The medic responded.

"Johnson, which way?" A man to his left asked the sergeant who was carrying the flashlight.

"I think it is this way, but it is hard to say in zero gee and without real lights." He said and motioned down a corridor with his hand.

"What happened?" Ranma asked and looked around. He was strapped to a stretcher, and the medic was slowly guiding the floating stretcher and Ranma through the ship.

"Don't know, there has been complete silence for close to an hour now, as far as I know we might be the only survivors, that was one hell of an explosion." He said while slowly floating down the corridor.

"Shhh, listen." The medic suddenly said.

Everyone stopped and listened, at first there was nothing, only silence, but then they began to hear something. It was low groans of metal. Ranma noticed that they seemed to float towards one side, and he could see pieces of dirt do the same, they had an almost unnoticeable trace of gravity.

"What the hell is tha-" Johnson said but didn't finish.

A loud BANG sounded throughout the ship followed by a sudden shudder

It sounded like something very large hit the ship, but they didn't get time to question the event, because they were forcefully thrown across the corridor, pined down to the wall.

Gravity seemed too had gone haywire, it shifted the entire time, throwing them across the hall and back. Only Ranma seemed to recognise what was truly happening. He managed to manoeuvre the stretcher he was strapped to so it stuck between two pieces of protruding metal.

"The ship is spinning, grab into something until it stops!" He yelled and forcefully grabbed the piece of metal.

He didn't know how long it lasted, but soon the violent motions slowed down until they finally stopped altogether.

"What the hell happened?" Sergeant Johnson asked while rubbing his forehead were a nasty bruise was forming.

Ranma, still stuck between the pieces of alien metal responded slowly while shaking away his dizziness.

"Something must have hit the ship to throw it into a spin, something large." He said.

"How large?" Johnson asked and gritted his teeth in pain, small droplets of blood were slowly floating away from the sergeants forehead.

"Large enough to have noticeable traces of gravity, but we can't have hit it particularly fast, or the impact would have killed us and destroyed the ship." He said and tried to get himself and the stretcher free.

It didn't work so he simply removed the straps and floated away. He made sure not to move anything beneath his chest, or he might reopen the wound.

"Shouldn't Cortana make sure we don't hit anything like that? I mean something that's larger then this fucking ship can't be that hard to notice." Johnson said angrily while rubbing his forehead.

"She must have killed every system on this ship, including all sensors." Ranma responded while floating around.

"Why the hell would she do something that stupid?" He responded and looked at the Spartan.

Ranma looked at the sergeant.

"Can't tell for sure, but there is a large chance it has something to do with the FTL-drive." He said and began to manoeuvre himself towards the bridge, closely followed by Johnson and the others.

It took them a good forty minutes for them to make their way through the ship and to the bridge. They didn't find a single evidence of any systems of the ship being online at all, only complete darkness and silence, only interrupted by the occasional groan of metal from the substructure of the ship.

Sergeant Johnson and the medic pried open the last door and they stepped inside.

The bridge was lit with chemical flares, and the small hologram of Cortana looking like she was deep in thought.

Ranma pushed off the wall softly and twisted a little in the air so he began to float towards the elevated platform.

As Ranma moved in front of the hologram Cortana opened her eyes.

"Cortana-" He beagn but was cut off.

"Sir? You alright?" She said worriedly.

"I've been better." He said and rubbed his stomach and the wound carefully.

Ranma noticed that Cortana was staring into infinity, she wasn't focusing on anything.

"What happened?" He asked the AI.

Cortana shook her head before she replied.

"Covenant, a _lot_ of Covenant." She said.

That immediately caught Ranma's attention.

"Don't worry, they haven't noticed us." She continued.

"Whoa, you're losing me, start from the beginning." He said quickly.

"The surge in slip-space was a Covenant fleet, normally the surge would have been unnoticeable, but the engines where already damaged, and that small wave was the drop that made the metaphorical goblet to flow over. The engines shut off and threw us out into normal space, and not before long a Covenant fleet came after." She told the cyborg.

"Then why did you turn off all the power?" He asked.

"We only have one third power to the engines, it would be senseless to try and run, and suicide to stay and fight, especially in the middle of a Covenant fleet, better to play dead." She explained.

"So instead of being an active unknown Covenant ship, we are a dead unknown Covenant ship, in either case they will still investigate. I simply don't see he logic in that." Ranma said to the AI.

Cortana was still staring out into infinity, probably because no eternal sensors were online.

"Normally yes, but they managed to bump into us at Reach, and there is pretty much only one thing left out here, shipwrecks, one frigate more or less wont be noticed." She said to Ranma.

"We are still here, so I guess it worked." Ranma said and focused on the AI.

"Only thing I didn't count on was one of their last ship to re-enter normal space to appear less then a kilometre from us. Had it only hit us a couple of times faster then the 3km/h it hit us with we would have been debris now. I suspect that they were as surprised as us, but at least they had their inertial stabilizers online, so they couldn't have felt more then a light shudder at most." Cortana rambled on.

"What about the Covenant?" Ranma said to cut the AI of.

"The fleet is large, but without active scanners I can't tell how large. At least my passive scanners are having better results, I am just happy that the Covenant never had heard about encrypted data streams. Their entire battle network is a joke, fully open frequencies as soon as they think they aren't watched, I just wish I could do some real scanning…"

"Cortana..." He said warningly.

"Opps, sorry. Well, I can't tell you anything significant, we will just have to wait for the fleet to leave, until then we are running dark.

Ranma nodded, but Cortana didn't see.

"How is the rest of the crew?" Ranma finally said after a moment of silence.

"Large amounts of bruises, a few broken bones, but fortunately no dead. How about yourself?" She answered tiredly.

"I'm out of the fight for the time being, not to be partial but the wound looked pretty bad." He said and scratched his neck absentmindedly.

"What happened?" Cortana asked worriedly.

"I had three feet of solid metal showed through my stomach that nailed me to the wall." He answered.

"And you are up and running?" She asked astonished.

"Until the painkillers wears off." He answered.

"I was afraid we lost you, it was close with the FTL-drive, to close." She said sadly.

"When it counts." He answered simply.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**Location: Colony Brazil, High Orbit, freighter Colonial-4367-Alpha **

**Date: 12 February 2553 (Evacuation of human colonies + 3 weeks)**

"…for the love of God, you can't leave us here…"

The rest of the transmission was cut off by the crewmember manning the communication station, their was no one onboard the ship that wanted to hear the planets last desperate pleas for help, for they would surely haunt their nightmares.

Reistadt looked out over the thirty or so people in the bridge, making eye contact with each and every one.

"Prepare for a message to the entire fleet." He said and looked as the small light on terminal changed from red to green.

"Prepare for immediate departure, we are sending the jump coordinates now." He finished the message with adding the large file of jump calculations to it.

Thirty minutes later the first ships began to accelerate before disappearing in a quick flash, the rest soon joining them.

Left behind was a colony thrown into anarchy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

**Location: Reach**

**Date: Unknown**

"Ma'am?" Cortana asked.

"Do it." Silvia answered.

Silence filled the bridge for a moment

"Commencing flash-scan." Cortana said with an unemotional voice.

They could hear the ship power up for a second before it shut down again. Ranma listened for anything out of the ordinary, waiting silently for the sound of plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers to hit the unprepared ship, tearing through its armour and either incinerating or exposing its occupants to the cold void of space.

Ranma, who had put on his armour once again, for there where still some of the automated healing chemicals left in it, closed the last of the air-seals, even though it would only buy him another 30 minutes if the ship was destroyed.

He was slightly nervous now, but as usual it didn't show, there was absolutely nothing he could do now that could be of any help.

"Processing data." Cortana said.

An entire week had gone since they came back to the very place it all had begun, Reach. Two days later the passive scanners had detected a large amount of slip space ruptures, but not enough to give any kind of number to the ships in the fleet. Another two days later there was another slip space rupture, and once again they couldn't get any kind of number on the fleet size.

They had waited three days without any kind of sign from the Covenant, and Cortana had proposed the idea to do a quick scan of the area, hopefully quickly enough not to be noticed by any potential Covenant.

"Initial scans show only a couple of radio echoes, but not a single trace of any Covenant." Cortana answered with relief in her voice.

"Then power up the area to do a full sweep, I want to be completely sure there aren't any squid-jaws out there." Silva answered.

He could hear the ship once again power up, but this time it stayed that way.

The bridge once again remained still.

"Everything is green, no Covenant." Cortana answered.

A collective sigh was heard through the bridge.

"Good, then let's see about starting up this girl, and see if we can find anything to get us home." Silvia said.

"Aye, aye ma'am." Cortana answered back.

"Chief, I need you down in engineering, but don't worry, no vent crawling this time." Cortana said a little teasingly.

He only nodded in reply.

"I am turning artificial gravity back on." The AI said to the crew.

Ranma could feel a slight shift in the air before he began to slowly drift downwards. He landed softly with a slight sound of metal against metal, and around him he could see others do the same.

Then at once the weight seemed to increase at insane speeds, and he feel down to one knee, a little more dignified then the others who landed on their asses.

Being without gravity for a week had made them unfamiliar with it, and they felt heavy and slow, even though it was what they had lived with for most of their lives.

Only moments later everyone were back on their feet, some looking at the AI a little irritated.

"And then there was light!" Cortana said and her hologram snapped her fingers.

The lights in the bridge turned back on.

"I always knew you were a megalomaniac." He said silently with a tinge of humour in his voice, the external speakers off making sure no-one heard their conversation.

"I heard that." The AI said with a feigned pout, talking over their personal frequency.

Ranma's mouth twitched almost unnoticeable.

He turned around and was followed by a couple of others who also was assigned to engineering.

A trip with a functional elevator followed by a quick walk led them to the engineering bay.

To both his right and left the two massive gravimetric engines stood silently.

The lights flickered for a moment and the engines began to quietly pulse. It took them the better part of six hours to start the engines according to the Covenant schematics, Cortana didn't want to risk blowing them up without a good reason.

"Engines at 15 and all systems are green." The chief of engineering said, formerly a simple ensign.

"This is the bridge, Master Chief, we need you here ASAP." Emilia said over the comm.

"I am on my way." He answered.

He quickly made his way through the ship, and stepped through the door as they automatically opened.

He quickly walked over to the raised platform, but people who knew him would realize he was favouring his right side over his left, he was no where fully healed from the accident with the FTL-engine yet, but the suits painkillers made it seem like he was okay.

"Chief." Major Silvia said with a voice that made him straighten his back. He was going on a mission.

"Ma'am." He answered back.

"Cortana, our situation." Silva said and turned to the AI.

"Right now we are in no immediate danger, the ship is working fine, however we lack the ability of interstellar flight, so for the time being we are stuck here."

"I understand." He said simply.

"However, we do have the advantage of having the largest spare ship part depot in the universe at close hand, we are as we speak entering a stabile orbit around Reach. We will scan the ships in the area to look for anything that might be of use. We can't however, fly around with the Burning Justice looking at every piece of potential salvage, that would take to much time." Cortana said to the chief.

"What do you propose?" Ranma asked.

"You leave this ship and take a look around the areas that will have large concentrations of downed ships. We need to either find a UN ship in acceptable condition, or a Covenant frigate with a functional FTL-drive, the former being more appreciated because of the time needed to change the engine." Cortana said.

"I see one large problem with this plan, we need new fuel cells for the longsword, it's running on fumes." Ranma said to the AI.

"You won't be using a longsword." Cortana said.

"Oh?" Ranma answered back.

"Apart from two damaged short range U-shuttles, we also have two phantoms troop transports, and one seraph fighter in our inventory, the three last in mint condition, your pick. Apart from Emilia, who needs to stay here to fly this thing, you're the only qualified pilot we have." Cortana said to Ranma.

Ranma looked at the Major and Cortana and nodded.

"Call Sergeant Johnson back from wherever he is, I need a co pilot that know about Covenant tech." Ranma said to Major Silva and Cortana who both nodded in approval.

Ten minutes later the sergeant walked up the ramp and looked at the small group. He was quickly briefed about the situation, and he grunted in approval while muttering something about getting out of here and being tired of working like a damn tech-boy.

"Now you can give us a crash course on how to fly a phantom." Ranma said.

"I suspected you would take the seraph, it has better armaments and better manoeuvrability." Cortana asked the Spartan.

"I am a graduate from Reach Naval Academy, I've read the known specs about the Covenant ships, and the phantoms have better scanners. If we end up in combat it doesn't really matter which ship we fly, we still wouldn't be able to take on more then two, perhaps three ships if we are lucky." Ranma said and the AI nodded in approval.

Sixty minutes later Ranma and Johnson were seated in the cockpit of the alien craft, Ranma wearing his Mjolnir armour, and Johnson a policed UN spacesuit from the longsword, usually worn by fighter pilots. They where both listening to Cortana as she went through the different controls.

After making sure they knew everything important, she began the launching procedure.

The seemingly solid armour of the ships hull parted slowly in front of them, using force fields the entire time was problematic, it was instead used when fast launches and landings were needed, most often when inside planets atmosphere.

The engines of the craft started up and he could feel as the clamps holding the ship in place released. The ship hovered in the bay for a moment.

"Everything looks fine, you are cleared for launch." Cortana said over the speakers

"Roger that." He said and shifted the controls and the craft flew forwards.

After making his way two kilometres or so from the ship he made a sharp turn and began to fly around the Justice to get a clear look at her and to familiarize himself with the controls.

He made a couple of runs around the ship, keeping her within visual range, using nothing more then his eyes to navigate.

He made a couple of sharp loops, pushing the alien crafts to its limits, before flying past the Justice and wiggled the crafts wings in the usual air force greeting.

"Hello to you to, Chief. But you should stop playing around and get to the nearest area to begin the search." She said with humour.

"Just making sure your eyes are on me now." He said back simply.

"Don't worry, I'm here to hold your hand. Now the nearest area has bearing 2-0-5" Cortana said her voice filled with humor.

"Bearing Two-Zero-Five, Roger that." Johnson said and smiled behind the visor at the AI and Spartans antics.

"If you need anything I'm on this channel, standard navy freq. I am going to try and bring some of the remaining UN satellites in the area online, see if they can be of some help, Cortana out" Cortana said and a second later there was a quiet click as she shut of her transmission.

They continued forwards, Ranma keeping his eyes from the charred remains of Reach the entire time.

"Damn waste of fine men and women." Johnson said after a long moment of silence. The normal smartass humour wasn't anywhere in his voice, he sounded tired.

"This entire war has been nothing but one long waste of fine men and women." Ranma replied solemnly.

Silence fell again.

"So, in all honesty, do you think we will lose this war?" Johnson asked and looked out the window.

"Perhaps we will, perhaps we won't, whatever outcome I now one thing for sure."

"And that is?"

"Victory will come at a great costs, neither we or the Covenant will go down without a fight." He said.

Silence one again fell over the cockpit, only the occasional beep from the controls the only sound heard.

They zipped past numerous pieces of molten ships, only the spectral analysis made it possible to determine the different pieces of molten metals origin, part was Covenant but most were UN. Whatever the ships origins their was not a single piece worth salvaging there.

They continued their sweep, flying within visual range of one of the massive Orbital Super MAC's, it appeared undamaged, the massive counterweight almost at the top, meaning it had been reloading and had been about to fire.

The station had been taken out of action not by the Covenants ships, but by their ground forces destroying the planetary reactors.

They made a couple of fly-bys to look for any superficial damage, but found none.

"Mark her on the nav-map, I want to take a closer look later."

They continued their search around the orbit of the planet they had decided to search today, but they only found, apart from four other intact or semi intact MAC guns, molten debris or small pieces of ships, at most they had found a tenth of an entire ship, but that had been the tail section of a UN frigate.

"Cortana, we are on our way back, no luck yet." Johnson said over the comm.

"I hear you, we can begin to search another section of the planets orbit tomorrow, I will see about sending out Emilia on a run with either you or Johnson, would be good if we had two crews out there scouting." Cortana said over the speakers.

"Acknowledged, Cortana." Ranma said.

They began to head back and zipped past the MAC guns and skimmed the planets atmosphere to achieve a straight path back to the Justice.

"…frzzk…answ….frzzk" The speakers came to life.

"Say again Cortana, we are having bad transmissions." Johnson said over the comm.

"Whatever you heard, it wasn't me, we have a clear transmission without static." Her voice came over the speakers."

Johnson and Ranma looked at each other.

"Affirmative, we have an unknown contact, I am trying to pinpoint where it came from." Johnson said and began to tap a different keybord, with little success.

Meanwhile Ranma was slowing the craft down and began to fly in circles in the general area that they had received it from.

"frzzk…lp….frzzk" The speakers burst to life again.

"The general area the message is coming from is…" Johnson began but stopped.

"The surface…. But there is nothing down there but glass, nothing could have survived that." He finished.

"It is a large possibility that it is simply an automated emergency signal, from an intact radio, as the sergeant said, nothing could survive that." Cortana finished.

"Well, _something _is down there. Johnson, give me some coordinates." Ranma said and peered out of the cockpit at the scorced planet below.

"Yes sir." He replied.

"Cortana, what is the surface condition?" He said and began to shift the controls.

Cortana sighed before she replied.

"The entire crust of the planet has been molten and hardened into glass, but the temperature has dropped within manageable levels, 70-80 degrees Celsius, however, there is virtually no atmosphere, at most small concentrations of carbon dioxide, nothing your Mjolnir suit can't handle, however comm. Will be severely hindered if you enter the atmosphere." Cortana replied.

"Affirmative, thanks for the warning." Ranma answered back, and shifted the controls so that the craft began to descend.

The descend went much smother then with a UN craft the same size, and Ranma just hoped the tech guys back on Earth would do something worthwhile with it once they got back there, like develop their own gravimetric drives, or perhaps plasma weapons.

The surface shimmered like a sea underneath him, but he wasn't fooled, it was just the light playing across the glass surface.

"We have to fly north, about twenty clicks" Johnson said and was looking down at the alien nav-map.

The ship lurched forwards and began to circle the area for any sign of the mysterious transmission.

"Should be around here, but I don't see anything except glassed hills, and more glassed hills."

Ranma nodded but continued the search. He was about to quit after having flown over the same area at least twice, when he noticed a dark spot on the otherwise shimmering surface.

He flew over it a couple of times before he finally settled the craft down a hundred or so metres from it. Johnson and Ranma unbuckled from their seats and then lowered the back hatch down to the ground.

The glass cracked under their feet as they walked the short distance.

"It's a hole." Johnson stated simply.

Ranma leaned over the edge and looked down.

"It's a hole in the ground." Johnson continued.

"No, look at the edges, it's an elevator shaft." Ranma said and pulled out a flare and lit it.

He threw it and both looked at it as it fell down the shaft, before finally disappearing somewhere down the abyss.

He stood up and walked back to the phantom, followed by Johnson. He started up the craft and slowly hovered the small distance to the shaft, and then looked out the cockpit window, but he couldn't get a good look.

"Wait…" Johnson said and began to type away on the alien keyboard, looking up at the screen at the translation software Cortana had installed.

"There." He finished and the front window flared, and instead of a barren landscape it showed a transparent 3D image of the craft and its surrounding area.

The head of the Spartan turned around to look at the sergeant.

"I was looking through this thing during one of our endless scans, came across this neat little feat. At the time I wanted music, but it appears the Covenant designers didn't put in a stereo." Johnson explained.

"Superior technology my ass." The sergeant muttered to himself.

Ranma only shook his head and turned to the image and began to manoeuvre the craft.

"Only twenty or so meters to spare, not exactly much room for anything else but falling straight down." Ranma said to the sergeant who nodded in return.

He turned the ship around and then began the descend, making sure his hands where on the controls steadily, he didn't want to hit one of the walls.

They hadn't even descended a meter before the screen flared red and began to beep wildly, making Johnson curse and type furiously on the keyboard.

"Close proximity alarm, goes off when we are getting to close to something. The thing is showing red on all sides." Johnson answered the unspoken question.

The sound and flaring stopped, and Ranma could once again concentrate on manoeuvring the craft.

The descent went slowly.

The first couple of hundred meters the walls were covered in solid glass, but after that more and more of the metal plating underneath began to show.

"What is this for place?" Johnson asked after awhile.

"It's a deep core titanium mine, or rather was before they were abandoned for asteroid mining, there were four such mines on Reach, one caved in completely back in 2467, another was used as testing grounds for nuclear weapons, the last two were built to house underground UN installations." Ranma answered.

The sergeant nodded.

"Sounds like a good fallout shelter." Johnson said.

"They are, these things are dozens of miles deep, and could probably survive even the most intense bombardment." Ranma answered.

Silence fell again.

Suddenly one side of the ship got stuck by a broken metal beam and threw the ship out of control.

The ships swung to both sides and slammed into the walls around it before Ranma managed to get it back under control.

"Shit that was close." Johnson swore loudly and Ranma nodded in affirmative.

They decelerated a little and it took them the better part of five hours before they finally hit the bottom.

Ranma and Johnson once stepped out of the craft and took in the small area illuminated by the ships lights.

He prodded the remains of his flare with his boot before walking and taking a look around the area.

Johnson strode toward the only other piece of machinery besides the ship. He leaned over it and began to carefully look it over. Ranma stepped up as he finished his sweep.

"So?" Johnson asked the Spartan.

"Nothing more then a slight scratch to the paint job." He said and looked at what Johnson had been looking at.

"A GCD-Nokia-37D, standard infantry communication relay, I'm surprised we managed to get the signal at such an altitude." Johnson said and Ranma nodded in reply.

Both stepped away from it and looked at the massive blastdoors that were slightly opened.

They both peeked underneath but were met with complete darkness. They made a quick trip back to the phantom and took a pair of Covenant flashlights, and one loaded plasma pistol each.

The dark caverns underneath the surface of Halo that housed the Flood where in both minds, they wouldn't go into such an area unarmed. The humans natural fears of the dark had gripped their hearts, they had defeated it yes, but it was still their.

Both quickly made their way back and rolled under the door, Ranma gritting his teeth slightly, before turning on their flashlights.

The Covenant equipment cast a ghostly purple light over everything, but it chased away the immediate darkness. Both raised their weapons and slowly crept forwards.

The next set of massive doors where the first in a series of airlocks, but the giants were closed and with no power they would have no chance of budging them.

However, the small personnel airlocks were opened and unpowered, both stepped inside and once again scanned the area.

The next set of doors was closed, but they could open it manually.

Lying on both sides were a large amount of gas-tubes containing oxygen, and they quickly sorted through the ones with anything in them. They strapped three onto their belts and continued forwards.

Ranma was constantly keeping an eye one both his oxygen supply, and the external carbon dioxide levels. Everything was way past what any human could survive in.

They made their way through empty halls, power completely offline. Dust was covering everything, and the entire atmosphere sent chills down their spines.

They made their way into what was once a small infirmary, and looked around.

"No one is alive down here." Johnson said and shook his head in defeat.

"Look." Ranma said and motioned to the cabinets lining one of the walls.

"I see a couple of shelves, a desk, normal things in an infirmary." Johnson answered back.

"There are no supplies, everything is gone." Ranma answered back.

Behind the visor Johnson's eyes widened in understanding.

The search continued, they systematically checked every room.

They were moving down a corridor when he saw a shadow in front of him move slightly.

"DODGE!" He yelled and dropped the flashlight to present a harder target to hit.

Johnson reacted the same way and threw himself behind a steal beam.

Tracer rounds filled the hallway and both Ranma and Johnson instinctively leaned around their cover to return fire. He fired a quick succession of green plasma down the hallway, putting up suppressing fire first and foremost.

As Ranma leaned back to let his pistol cool down he snapped back to reality.

"CEASE FIRE!" He roared out.

Johnson seemed to return to reality and stopped firing.

The tracers continued to fill the air, and Ranma changed his radio to all freq and all channels.

"Cease fire!" He roared again.

The firing stopped, but he didn't stick his head out, he wasn't completely sure if they had listened or just paused to reload. He managed to get his pulse and breathing down before he peeked around the corner. He couldn't see anything in the dark.

Across the floor he could see Johnson breath rapidly, even through his suit it he was able to see it.

"Standard fleet freq." He said into his radio, and the changed his radio settings once again.

It took a while before he got a reply.

"You're the rescue party?" An unsteady voice asked over the comm.

"Something like that." Johnson said before Ranma got time to reply.

Ranma stood up and once again peeked around the corner, this time he could see a bunch of people wearing similar attire as Johnson walk into the circle of light cast by the Covenant equipment on the ground.

"Sorry about that, we thought you were Covenant." The man in the front replied.

"Not in this life." Johnson muttered through the radio.

"Sorry about that major." The soldier said as he spotted the sergeants suit rank.

"Its Master Sergeant, it's a policed suit." Johnson answered back

"You know you can be court marshalled for wearing inaccurate insignia." The soldier asked Johnson.

"Same thing goes for shooting on fellow soldiers." Johnson replied acidly.

Johnson turned around as the Spartan had remained quiet the entire time.

"Chief?" Johnson said.

"Here." He grunted out in pain, all the rapid movements had reopened his wound.

"Corporal, where is your HQ, I can hardly believe you have been running around in pressure suits down here this entire time." He said and stepped out of the shadows.

The man stammered a little before nodding.

"First level had some breaches so we moved down a level." He said and motioned down the corridor.

He could see as the man changed the freq on his radio and talked to someone.

He changed the freq once again.

"I just told the others to get back to the airlock, you tripped a silent alarm on the way in." He said and Johnson nodded.

They made their way through a maze like complex of corridors and rooms, there would have been no chance scouting the entire area even with the extra oxygen.

They stepped through a quick series of airlocks and then used a small elevator to go down a level.

Johnson removed his helmet as the others did the same. Ranma looked around and then pooped the air-seals on his helmet too. He needed to smell something besides the metallic smell of his re-breathers, even if it was stale dry air.

Everyone except Johnson looked at him in fascination, he had already seen Ranma outside his armour, and besides another foot in height he wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

They stared transfixed at him the entire time before they realised what they were doing and quickly looked away. He hung the helmet on his belt and then took a deep breath of air.

The men took a quick peek and realised there wasa human in the armour, and not some freaky machine. Their interest quickly disappeared and they turned to the door as it slid open.

Standing around the elevator entrance was a bunch of assorted personnel, all cheering wildly as the unknown soldiers stepped out.

Both men snapped a crisp salute as they recognised the man standing in the front of them, Admiral Stanforth.

"At ease." The admiral said and genuinely smiled at them.

Both relaxed their posture somewhat and waited for the admiral to continue.

"Please come with me gentlemen." He said and began to walk away, the crowd parting as the admiral walked through.

They stepped into what once could have been a small supply room, but now was acting as office. The admiral sat down and motioned to the others to do the same.

"I was giving up hope anyone would come and rescue us." He said to the soldiers.

"We received a transmission on our way back from a scout run in the area, and the Chief decided to check it out, sir." Johnson explained to the admiral.

The admiral nodded.

"When can we expect more people down here?" The admiral asked.

"Sir, that's the problem, we don't have anymore people to spare, everyone is needed to keep the ship in orbit together." Ranma said.

"You aren't here on orders from Earth?" The admiral asked.

"No sir, we haven't been close to any human controlled space since we left Reach, we are here on our own accord." Ranma said.

The admiral nodded.

"So we can't expect any large rescue operation." The admiral said.

"No sir, and we need to get back to the ship to report, as far as they know we are looking for an emergency beacon. After we have reported I will make sure we will use every resource available to get you out of here." Ranma said.

The admiral nodded once again.

"Sir, we can take sixty people with us on the way up, but it will be at least another twelve hours before you see us again." Ranma said.

"I will begin preparations for the sixty people to go along with you at once, but it will take at least an hour." The admiral said.

"Sir?" Ranma asked.

"Yes." He answered.

"First and foremost could you see to it that they are navy? Preferably any people with bridge, engineering, or other ship maintenance experience. When I said we don't have any spare people I wasn't exaggerating, we are forty people, mostly from the infantry, running a frigate, Sir" Ranma said to the admiral.

The admiral looked at the Spartan and then nodded.

"I don't think you have to worry about that, we have survivors from a wide arrange of ships here. Anything else?" He asked.

"How many supplies do you have?" Johnson butted with the same grace as a scorpion tank.

"Enough to last us another year." The admiral answered, if he seemed insulted by both of the soldiers seemingly taking charge he wasn't showing it.

"Tell them to pack as much food and medical supplies as possible, we are out and about to begin to eat our boots." The sergeant said and Ranma nodded.

"Everything will be ready in two hours, your dismissed." The admiral said.

They both snapped a salute and the walked out of the room.

"Before you leave." The voice of the admiral halted them.

He looked up at both soldiers.

"Take a walk around the area, make the people see that there someone here to save them." He said and both nodded in reply.

They both stepped out of the room and then looked down both hallways.

"So, where are you going?" Johnson asked and looked at the Spartan.

"Infirmary, I need for someone to take a look at this." He said and tapped his fingers quickly over his stomach.

"Need any help?" Johnson asked.

"No, I will manage." Ranma answered the sergeant.

"Okay, I will do as the admiral say and take a look around, see if they have anything besides freeze dried rations. See you back at the air-lock in an hour." Johnson said walked down the corridor.

Ranma shrugged and walked down the corridor in the other direction.

He stepped up to one of the massive maps of the area that was strategically placed at the larger intersections, and looked for the infirmary.

After memorizing the location he quickly made his way through the halls, greeting the people as he went past. Most stopped and took a good look at the Spartan, for they had never seen one without a helmet.

The infirmary was open, and except a single occupant sleeping on one of the beds it was empty.

Seeing as there was no one there he shrugged and walked over to one of the cabinets and began to remove various items.

He moved to a secluded part of the room and moved the drapes to give him the needed privacy. He placed all the instruments he thought he might need in a neat row.

He was about to remove his armour when he heard someone enter the room. He stood up and walked up to the drapes to pull them apart, but someone was faster. He recognised the face that blinked in shock immediately.

"Ranma?" Dr Catherine Halsey said and took a step back.

"Ma'am" He answered simply.

She regained her composure, and then looked him over.

"So you are with the team that finally found us?" She said and noticed the various pieces of medical gear.

"Yes, we received your transmission by sheer luck." He answered back, bu a little happiness that she had managed to survive crept through.

"Are you injured?" She said and motioned to table with all medical supplies.

"Yes, I was about to rewrap the wounds." He answered.

"Show me." She answered and motioned for him to sit down.

He carefully removed the every piece of armour above his waist and then removed the skin-tight vest he had borrowed from one of the helljumpers. His own jump-suit had been ruined in the accident.

Dr Halsey then carefully removed the completely red wrappings and then grimaced at the sight.

"You have had this how long?" She asked with a grimace.

"A week, give or take a day." He answered and gritted his teeth in pain as she began to prod the area with her fingers.

"Luckily it doesn't seem to be infected, but I want to take an X-ray to see why it hasn't closed up."

The following hour was spent with taking an X-ray that revealed a small piece of metal still inside him, and then with Halsey removing it.

"Fight with a Covenant?" She asked and held up the purple piece of metal into the light.

"Accident." He answered as he was putting on his armour.

"I don't want you to do anything in a while, that wound needs to close up." She said and walked back to where he was sitting.

"I need to pilot a ship back into orbit." He said and looked at the watch on the wall.

Halsey looked at him with stern eyes.

"As long as it isn't any strenuous activity it's fine by me." She said and removed the plastic gloves she had been using.

Ranma nodded and then began to stand up.

"And Chief" She said to the Spartan seriously.

"Ma'am?" He responded.

"I'm glad you made it." She said and gave him on of her few smiles.

"Likewise." He answered back and his eyes softened a little and his mouth curved upwards into an almost unnoticeable smile.

Halsey looked at the Spartan somewhat strangely, they weren't famous for showing much emotion, but 117 just had.

The silence was interrupted by a new presence.

"Ma'am, the admiral sent me, you have ride out of here…Sir?" The voice began but trailed off as she took in the other presence in the room.

"Kelly?" Ranma almost stammered out.

"I thought you died." Both said simultaneously.

She looked him over once again and took in his appearance.

His helmet and a Covenant plasma pistol hung from his belt, and his armour was dented, scratched and scorched in numerous places, it looked like he had fought the entire Covenant army.

His hair wasn't the standard short cut hair every other Spartan had, his was at least 4 centimetres, he could be taken for a civilian if not for the armour and posture.

The strangest thing however was his eyes and face, his eyes went through a wide range of emotions before settling in their normal ice-blue, but a small bit of relief shone through.

His face looked somewhat haunted, he had bags under his eyes and it looked like he had lost great deal of weight. His face that usually was unnaturally pale had now taken a sickly shade of grey, only broken by the dark rings under his eyes.

It looked like he had been to hell and back.

She could see in his posture that he was favouring his right side over his left, and the blood covered tissues and instruments on the table behind him clued her in on the rest.

"Spartan, report." He said after awhile.

That brought her back to reality and she snapped him a crisp salute, and the turned to Dr. Halsey.

"I am here on orders from admiral Stanforth, ma'am he told me to get you and tell you are going on the first shuttle out of here. Gathering at the airlocks in an hour." She said and the turned back to the other Spartan.

"Sir?" She then asked Ranma.

He looked her over and then motioned for her to come with him.

He stepped out of the office and said his farewells to Halsey, before walking down the corridor with quick, long strides.

"Are there any others?" He said as he had gathered his thoughts.

"Yes. I can take you to our quarters, sir." She said as she walked besides him.

"Lead the way." He answered.

She nodded and took a turn to the right and began to lead him through the maze-like complex.

She was looking at him and wondering why he wasn't wearing his helmet, and he noticed this and seemed to realize what she was thinking.

Without a word he removed the helmet and threw it to her, and she caught it easily.

She ran her hands over the equipment and noticed that it to was covered in scratches. She noticed the small burn on one side near the optics, a part that was notorious for its malfunctions. There was also a puncture in the helmets neck, it didn't look to have been caused by any kind of plasma or ballistic weapons, rather by an extremely thick needle or a thin dagger. It had been repaired, but it was still visable.

She silently handed the helmet back to Ranma who just attached it to his belt again.

They made their way through the complex and then stopped at a door that slid open as they moved closer. Kelly quickly walked through the door and took a position to the side and snapped a salute.

"Officer on the deck." She barked out and all the Spartans attention turned to the door.

They walked up to the middle of the aisle and stood in two perfect rows facing each other, and then snapped a salute. They where expecting the admiral.

Ranma stepped through the door, and all heads turned towards him.

Everyone seemed to straighten their backs even more if it was possible, and then repeated the salute.

He didn't say a word, and slowly walked down the aisle, taking note of who was present, and who wasn't. Counting their numbers. He stopped at the end of the double line and faced away from the Spartans.

Thirty-four.

Thirty-five with him.

35 survivors of 75, forty dead.

He mentally sighed and then turned around.

"At ease." He said and the Spartans let their hands fall down to their sides, still standing at attention.

Silence followed.

He looked over each and every one of them.

"James, John, Kelly, report." He said and James was the first to step forwards into the middle of the aisle.

"We dropped into what the HQ had said was a clean area to aid Chief Petty Officer John-118 already groundside. The report turned out to be forty minutes old and we landed in an area swarming with Covenant. We were pinned down by enemy fire and with heavy loses unable to reach the generators. As the situation became intolerable we retreated towards the mountains and regrouped with a large number of ODST. We were working out a counter offence when we got a scrambled transmission that the generators had fallen and the Covenant had begun to glass the northern hemisphere. We called in evacuation and was picked up by a few remaining elements air-force in the area. We didn't have time to leave orbit so we headed here, were we been since." James said to his CO.

He stepped back into the line, and John stepped out.

"We managed to hold the reactors with help from the local garrison, things seemed to go our way a while, but then the HQ messed up drop zones, and the reinforcements from orbit, both or own men, and the troops from the 105th , landed on top of the Covenant. We managed to hold off three assaults before they managed to get their artillery online. They hammered our position close to an hour before they attacked again, we barely fought them off, but then the artillery started up again. When they attacked again we were swarmed, constant fire from all sides, outnumbered and with no ammo, we called for a nuclear strike and evac. The Covenant made their way to the reactors through the wide gaps in our lines, and then detonated a bomb that took the reactors down. We called in for an evac, but the area had too much AA-fire for HQ. In the end it was Kelly, Sam and five other pelican crews that disobeyed orders who got us out. As soon as we get back to Earth I will recommend every single one of them for the colonial cross." John said and displayed an unusual amount of anger, a bit at the brass, but mostly at the Covenant.

"Fubar." Ranma said and everyone nodded.

Finally Kelly stepped up.

"After we left the station we received their evac call, and we decided to get our men out of there. We didn't get time to get back into orbit so we headed here." She said and then stepped back.

Ranma nodded and looked at them again.

"John, Kelly." He said and both nodded.

"You are coming with me as we take the first group back into orbit, I will need your piloting skills." He said and both nodded.

He turned to James.

"You keep things down here in order, it might be some time before we get everyone out of here."

James nodded. He walked down the aisle and was about to step out of the door when he stopped and caught everyone's attention.

"It might be of little comfort, but know that Reach has been avenged." He said and then left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The crowd, all wearing pressure suits, carefully made their way through the complex, Ranma in the front flanked by Kelly and John to his left, and Johnson to his right.

The slowly rolled under the half open door as not to damage their suits and then got a look of shock at the Covenant craft.

Ranma patted the pistol at his hip.

"We had no supplies, so we decided "borrow" anything we might need, we have a full Covenant inventory." He said and stepped towards the craft.

He opened the hatch and walked inside, followed by Johnson. As no burst of plasma came the others followed suit.

The Spartans quickly threw all the gear inside, and then as last, stepped inside."

They secured everything tightly, and then everyone buckled up, happy that the inventory was built with the elite in mind, for they were the race most similar to humans.

John and Kelly joined the others in the cock-pit, taking the last two seats and then they started the engines.

This time he didn't take it slow, he pointed the nose of the craft straight up and then increased the power to the engines. They cleared the shaft in less then twenty minutes, and then headed for orbit.

"Chief, Its been close to ten hours!" Cortana said in relief as they cleared the planet and had a clear comm. again.

"Cortana, we are inbound now, we have some guests." Johnson said.

"Please repeat that." Cortana said.

"Our ship is full of survivors, with more on the planet." Ranma said this time.

"Okay, I will have Major Silvia down there to great them." Cortana said and then shut of the comm.

They passed the last of the orbital MAC guns and then got within visual of their ride.

"Shit, you weren't kidding when you said you had a full Covenant inventory." Kelly said as they moved up to the ship.

"The Covenant didn't want to give her to us, so we had to use humanities legendary persuasion-ability to make them give it to us." Johnson said as the phantom slowly floated inside the hangar bay.

"I bet you did." Kelly answered back.

The clamps connected with the ship and he powered her down.

He opened the cock-pit door, and walked through the small compartment. The hatch opened, and if everyone had seemed hesitant to the phantom they seemed downright scared of an entire Covenant capital-ship.

Ranma and the others made their way through the bay to the waiting form of Major Silvia and two ODST in full combat gear.

He snapped her an crisp salute. Kelly, Johnson and John did the same, all waiting.

"Report." She said simply.

"We have found survivors in one of the old titanium mines, they are currently waiting to be picked up." He said simply.

"How many?" She asked.

He looked at Kelly and John.

"Ma'am, close to twelve thousand." Johns said and stepped up.

Dr. Halsey stepped up, but she was looking around everywhere, trying to see everything at once.

"How long will it take to get them all here?" Silvia asked and looked at Ranma.

"Weeks probably, we can't have more then one ship at a time, the shaft isn't large enough for more." He said and looked to the other who nodded in confirmation.

"That's to long, we can't wait here for so long, we need to get back to Earth." She said.

"Major?" Dr Halsey said.

Silvia looked her over quickly and noticed she was a civilian.

"Most Covenant ships usually have a stationary matter transporter, or a gravity lift to deploy supplies to the surface. We could use that to quickly transport the people here, but we would have to go into orbit to do so." She said to the major.

"Who are you?" She asked simply.

"Dr. Catherine Halsey, one of the leading UN scientists in Covenant technology." A voice said over the speakers.

A moment latter Cortana's hologram appeared on a small pedestal on the right.

"Cortana, would it work?" Silvia asked the AI.

"Probably, but the gravity lift has limited range, if my memory core isn't corrupt I would say that the shaft is about the maximum range of the systems. We must deploy the landing dish to get a stable connection, and that can prove somewhat of a problem." Cortana said over the speakers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

The Burning Justice had entered the atmosphere and was now hovering over the elevator shaft. It had been close to twelve hours since they had arrived back to the ship, and during that time Ranma had managed to get some rest.

Cortana and Dr Halsey had worked out the small problems in the plan, and had then requested the help of the three Spartans.

They were currently standing on the dish, waiting for the floor to open to let the dish out of the ship.

Normally, when near the ground the dish would be hovered down to the surface with technicians constantly checking the uplink, it could only be done manually while on the dish.

If in high orbit they would use a large ship to drop it off at the wanted location, problem now was that the ship in question wasn't in the hangar bay, they had to do it manually.

The floor hissed once and then slid open, followed by the muted clinks of clamps losing itself from the dish.

The beam between the platform and ship appeared and they began to slowly drop towards the ground. Once they where certain the dish was exactly above the elevator shaft they contacted Cortana.

"Okay, powering down beam now, prepare for freefall." She said and then the light began to dim until it was hardly noticeable.

"Why did we have to do this?" Kelly sighed as gravity finally had its course.

Gravity finally had its course with the dish and they fell straight down, the connection with the ship making sure it didn't spin out of control.

The Spartans felt a large lurch in their stomachs, and gripped whatever they used as hold tighter, they were now weightless.

Ranma gritted his teeth tightly, his side was hurting as hell.

He could see the other Spartans keeping an eye on the equipment, the translation software built and provided by Cortana was making the entire thing possible.

"1500 meters…" Johns said over the comm.

"800…." Kelly said shortly after.

They weren't slowing down.

"Cortana." He said a little stressed.

He didn't get an answer.

"500…."

The lift suddenly lurched, and had they been normal humans they would have loosed their footing.

"400…" John said visibly relived, they had begun to slow down.

Three minutes latter the dish finally touched ground, and the three soldiers jumped off and began the preparations to activate the lift according to Cortana's instructions.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He looked as the lift discarded another large pile of equipment and a small group of personnel in the spacious lift bay.

They quickly moved the crates and such and piled it against the walls, were additional personnel began to carry it away to place it in the places Cortana had ordered.

Thirty minutes later the ship's lift flared to life again, and discarded all of the 75 Spartans, 35 of them standing in full mjolnir-armour next to the 40 black body bags containing the fallen warriors.

The UN had made a standing order to make sure that the superior Mjolnir Mk.V armour didn't fall in the enemies hands, so they had brought the armour and dead bodies back.

He walked forwards and began to help to move the bodies towards the large room that had been turned into a provisory morgue.

Not a single word was said as the bodies was moved through the corridors, and the UN personnel they met stopped what they were doing to salute.

The door slid open, and the small amount of vapour in his visor instantly froze as he entered the freezing room.

The bodies were placed in neat rows inside the room, along with the bodies of other people that that had died on Reach that had been recovered.

He opened the body bags one after another, to remove the dog tags of each and every Spartan, and while he wasn't religious, said a short prayer for each and every one. He then walked back to the door.

He didn't look back once as the doors closed behind him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cortana was keeping her eyes on the ascending ship, but once they broke the atmosphere she turned her attention to other matters. She quickly made an uplink to one of the few remaining defence satellites, and then tried to access the UN battle-net.

Hopefully something would be left so she could get a better view of the system.

She smiled in success as the interface changed from the standard Covenant colours to the UN ones, but then frowned as her senses were assaulted by error messages.

She began to sort through the different messages in attempt to find _anything_ that had some kind of power and sensors.

She shuddered as everything finally was sorted out, and all the data was transformed into a landscape, as far as she could see there was only destruction.

The remains of ships, stations, everywhere there was only the remains of the horrendous battle. The last desperate transmissions from now dead crews screaming for help and reinforcements, unfinished status reports from ship computers predicting the destruction of them and their crews, everything was echoing around on the battle-net, chaos reigned everywhere, for an AI with emotions like Cortana it wasn't only a battlefield, it was Hell itself.

She pulled herself together and began to search through the endless wreckage, more then once stopping and whispering prayers as she came across something especially horrifying.

She more then once came across the bodies of AI's, but not a single one was "alive" their data cores had been destroyed and only the imprints on the battlenet remained.

She walked past the destroyed form of a scorpion tank and its dead crew, representing one of the many tank battalions that had been on Reach.

She just shock her head and was about to continue one when she heard was what could be considered a gurgling breath.

She quickly turned around and began to head to the origin of the noise.

She came across the badly damaged form of an AI, and she kneeled to the side of the body to see if she could help.

The AI didn't react to her presence, not even when Cortana placed her hand on the temple of the other.

She got a small zap of information and the AI's breathing became more and more shallow.

The AI wasn't alive, it had just copied a part of itself into what remained of the battlenet, the personality and neural pathways were nonexistent.

Apparently it had known that its destruction was imminent, and had tried to send as much vital data as possible before that happened.

Apparently the ship AI and its crew had been left after the Covenant had left, and had received numerous requests for help before the ships internal structure gave away, the AI had wanted to pass the information along.

She looked down on the now dead AI, and then closed the eyes of the contruct.

"_Would Spartan 117 and 118 please prepare their flight crews for immediate departure."_

She would be damned if she didn't get every living soldier in this system back home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ranma stepped inside the now crowded bridge.

It had taken them close to two weeks to sweep the entire system for survivors, and potential parts to repair the ship.

Apart from finding personnel on some of the larger space stations and intact MAC-guns that the Covenant had thought of as deserted, they had also been forced to go planet side again as John's patrol found survivors in the other underground UN installation.

The ship quickly became overcrowded, but that was solved as Cortana placed the entire ship in one of less damaged dry-docks for a full overhaul while the scout parties looked for spare parts.

As for salvaging any ships, the scout parties had found four good objects.

To the left of the Justice the Covenant cruiser Ascending Purity, who been taken out by sheer dumb luck, was being overseen.

The ship had taken a Super-MAC round through a non-vital part, but a computer malfunction had stopped one of the doors to the bridge from sealing up, and the crew in the bridge and surrounding areas had been exposed to hard vacuum. A small Spartan team, with the help of the same translation-program that was used in the Justice, had managed to manoeuvre the ship into dry-dock.

To the right of the Justice, the UNSC destroyer Serenity was being repaired, the ship had lost all power thanks to a lucky hit, but had been in a relatively good condition apart from that, and it had been fully rearmed, full storages of archer missiles and MAC rounds.

To Serenity's right, the UNSC heavy cruiser Athens, who had suffered the same fate, was being rechecked by the crew., it however had taken a full hit in the FTL-drives.

The wreckage of another covenant cruiser provided spare parts and hull plates for the Purity and Justice, the latter's weapon systems and engines had finally been restored to 100.

Reach, even if it had fallen, had managed to muster one final fleet

"Sir." Ranma said and saluted the Admiral.

"Anything new?" He asked.

"No, the patrols have searched everything, and have started from the beginning." He answered, and mentally wondered how he had been given the command of the small group of pilots, he was a ground-pounder.

"Cortana?"

"The Athens is already finished, apart from the FTL-drives that will take months to repair, the same goes for the Justice. The Purity is almost finished, the crew are driving out the kinks as we speak, the Serenity however will take another weak to repair their FTL-drives, everything else is green. I am currently trying to go true everything we have gathered on the Covenant." She replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

Nosolee stepped out of the private council chambers, followed shortly by the other fleet-masters and council members. He had been allowed to remain in command of the two fleets, the biggest reason was because of the fact that it lacked ships, many thought it a fitting punishment.

The thirty ships he had been given by the prophets had been re-assigned from the different fleets, and because the fleet-masters didn't want to lose anything important had been supplied with the oldest ships, often ones that had been about to be scraped.

The small group of ships had been delivered, and the small crews had then left to rejoin their respective fleets.

He had thirty ships without crews, and had to fins them quickly.

He was standing outside the chambers, waiting for Narmia to exit. The old warrior soon did, and Nosolee could see that he, as often since the death of Nyaeven, was in deep thought. He was constantly brushing his fingers over the crystal in his armour, and always looked saddened when he did.

"Head Elder, I would wish to speak to you." Nosolee said and stepped up to the old warrior.

Narmia looked at him in the eye, and then nodded.

"Walk with me, warrior." He said simply.

They made their way through the crowd, and then began to walk towards one of the many memorial parks in High Charity.

"Speak." Narmia then said.

"You have noticed my new command, and my lack of warriors?" Nosolee said and motioned to the runes on his armour.

"You are looking for warriors?" He stated, it wasn't a question.

"Yes, Head Elder, of what use are my ships without warriors to man them?" He said.

"Not many will want to be led by a disgraced Fleet-Master such as yourself." He stated, but his words lacked the feeling of loathing the others used.

"Even more reason for me to ask you for help." Nosolee said and bowed his head in shame.

Narmia turned around to look the other elite in the eye, and then nodded.

"I can only offer you the names of warriors, who such as yourself, has lost the favour of the council."

"As long as they follow my commands, and are capable." Nosolee stated.

Both fell into silence as they walked through the beautiful gardens, built to honour the Forerunner and their Prophets.

Much times passed, and both warriors could feel a strange sense of peace.

Narmia suddenly spoke.

"What are your thoughts on the holy ring?" Nosolee suddenly said, interrupting the silence.

Narmia didn't say anything at first, slowly collecting his thoughts.

"I fear we have awoken a demon on that ring, a demon that might be the undoing of us all." He said.

"The parasite was destroyed." Nosolee said simply.

"It was not the parasite I was talking about." Narmia said to the other elite.

"But the humans…" He said and trailed off.

"For all their faults are stronger then we suspect." Narmia finished.

"You sound as you respect them." Nosolee said, but he wasn't joking, he was serious.

"They haven't been blessed by the knowledge of the forerunner, yet they fight our finest warriors with unyielding force. It shames me to say that they humans outclass our warriors on the ground.

"But we always win, our fleets has yet to be defeated." Nosolee said, he didn't argue about it, the Elders words were true.

"Our fleets that discarded the warriors honour and slaughtered the humans peace-livers? The humans are not vermin, they fight and die like warriors, and yet we disregard our ancient oaths that define the way to fight enemy warriors." Narmia said with a slight tinge of anger to his voice.

Nosolee only nodded in understanding and shame, elites such as they lived and died by the warriors code of honour, and by the ancient oaths they should only be able to wage war against the warrior caste. The Prophets had been able to disregard that by stating that the humans were nothing more the vermin, and not to be considered equals.

The humans would have made a great addition to the Covenant.

Perhaps, guided by the Prophets, they had been blinded by the sins committed.

Whatever thoughts he had on the matter was irrelevant, humanity would soon be extinct from these stars.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cortana was slowly going through all information on the Covenant that the scanners around Reach had picked up, she wanted to make sure the people at Earth knew what waited them.

She slowly replayed the entire event, the assault, and the signal she had sent with Keyes authorisation to draw the Covenant away from the retreating fleet, and then she continued forward, the hours after they had left.

Space was filled with frantic cries for help, but no help ever came. One after another the signals stopped, as the occupants ships went out of power or food. They had more then once come across people who had starved to death during their sweep, only the larger installations with storages of food had any real chance of survival.

Soon everything became static, static that lasted for more then six months.

Her sensor registered the faint signals of a slip-jump, which was when they arrived.

Only moments later she saw as the Covenant fleet materialized, the gathered signal was much stronger.

She managed to track their drifting vessel, as they were rammed by the cruiser.

The Covenant were hardly silent, were only static was before there was now livid communication.

It was mostly the standard Covenant fleet chatter, religious chants between the superiors, and simple requests for some kind of equipment or other, simple chatter that was needed to keep the fleet going, between the lower ranks.

Then everything went silent as a longwinded religious lecture, from what she surmised was the lead vessel, began.

It was said in a much more accented, or older form, of the standard Covenant language, and she couldn't translate some of the more abstract words, but she understood the gist of it.

However, one sentence particularly caught her interest, she could only translate two or three words in the entire sentence.

"_Nyal'ver senerv'el jilva'renya sche'livi'ye shav'la' sen'every' le'sch' E'rrt." _She replayed the sentence over and over, hoping to finally understand its meaning.

She noted the raised voice and hints of anger in the voice of the speaker. A creeping suspicion fell over the AI, and she quickly turned her attention towards the only other she knew that held any knowledge of Covenant language.

"Chief."

She let her hologram appear on the bridge, next to were Emilia and the Chief was going through the specs on and data from one of the flights.

He turned his attention to the AI and noticed the worried look.

She quickly played the part over the speakers, and it caught the attention of the admiral.

"What do you think?" She asked the Spartan.

Numerous emotions, unnoticeable by any human, noticed by the AI, flashed across his face.

"There is one word there that doesn't sound like normal Covenant grammar and doesn't follow their usual sentence structure, E'rrt."

"Earth." Cortana answered the unspoken question.

"Admiral." Cortana said and turned to the man in question.

"Tell the others, get us there now."

The lights in the bridge changed colour.

"_Too all personnel, set condition one through all ships. Prepare for departure within an hour. This is not a…_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

"…THIS IS NOT A DRILL. I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. TOO ALL UN FORCES, SET CONDITION ONE, ALL PERSONNEL TO THEIR ACTION-STATIONS, PREPARE FOR COVENANT CONTACT."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxx

**Author Notes:**

HA! I'm not dead…. Just been in hibernation. Took me longer then I wanted, but school has been taking almost all of my time… That and I finally ditched my modem to upgrade so I've been busy…. Then there was that damn virus…. Anybody have an idea who "General Error" is? And what the Hell is he going on my computer……

I'm not fooling anyone, am I?

Okay, okay, I've just been rather lazy lately.

But I have about half of the next chapter of Changing Path done, more vampire action coming up.

60 pages is a bit long, I wanted to stop by 40, just had to add a scene or two, and that went a little out of hand and became another 20 pages. Not much action in this one, but more of a trap up to the next chapter

As you can see I have reverted a "bit" from the story of Halo 2, making it more Earth-centric. I've decided, even before the release of Halo 2, to give the Covenant a larger part in the story, and the game gave me a lot of reference and insight in Covenant society. Does it appear believable, is it a pile of crap, or should I just go back to write the Covenant like a faceless bunch of religious nuts?

I've also decided to expand a little on the other characters, especially Cortana, and Sgt Johnson (He's just too badass for his own good.)

So, what are your opinion on the outcome of the Battle of Reach, are the humans going to win, are the Covenant going to win, or is 343 Guilty Spark going to kill the universe with his annoying chatter?

Anyone have a good idea how a space-battle of this scale would look like? My E-mail and messenger is the same, I'm having problems with my E-mail, but my messenger is working fine, so just send me a quick line.

**Review people! **

And by the way, I've had this chapter done for a week now, but I haven had the time to proof read it, so if you see a larger amount of spelling mistakes then normal that's the reason.

Xerxez, signing off and deciding to go do something constructive with his time.


End file.
